


Looks Like A Great Day for Foreshadowing

by RV (TekeoMiona)



Series: LGF'Verse [1]
Category: Tremors: The Series
Genre: Attempted Murder, Bombing, Dragons, Dreams, Evil Scientists - Freeform, Foreshadowing, Gen, Kidnapping, LGF'Verse, Mixmaster Revolution, Panic Attack, Sandstorm - Freeform, burt blows some stuff up, character disappearance, hostage, lab, maze, whitecoats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 04:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 26,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2533586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TekeoMiona/pseuds/RV
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's another normal day in Perfection...until it isn't. A strange shadow haunts the skies, strange people walk the town, and a strange dream strikes three times. Something dangerous lurks beneath the valley, but this time it's not Graboids. Help comes from the unlikeliest of sources, but only if they accept it. And from the looks of things, they may have no choice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And the Cars Go POOF!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm a little bored right now and decided to post the LGF series on here just fer the halibut.
> 
> Okay, so the LGF series is something my friend, codename Rumpy, got me started on. With her. She roped me into "roleplaying" with her with Tremors, though to be honest it's more of a weird mix of roleplay and collab. We assigned characters to each other, but actually talked a little about what was going on and whatnot. This started random, but then we continued after this story and now we're 8 stories in with much more talking and planning and less character assigning and we're actually serious about what we do now, haha. So, yeah. Don't let the "roleplay" throw you. It's fairly okay-good, and we get better later on (like I said, this story wasn't started seriously, we were just bored).
> 
> So here's the first story! It's already up on ff.net and dA, so I suppose you could cheat and look it up there to read it all, but I'll be posting a chapter twice a week on here, until all the stories are up and I'm caught up with where we are. Every Wednesday and Sunday, so keep an eye out.
> 
> *RV makes no claim to own Tremors or its characters. They are the property of S.S. Wilson and Stampede Entertainment.*

Burt, in his 'beloved' Power Wagon, rode through the desert towards his town. Today was a very normal day, nothing strange seemed to be up. He laughed to himself at this, knowing how drastically-and often- this changed suddenly. He soon made it to Chang's, heading inside.

"Hiya, Burt!" Tyler greeted him as he walked through the door, his blue eyes sparkling with some sort of secret excitement.

"Hey, Tyler," Burt greeted, giving his friend a curious look. "What's got you in such a good mood?" he asked, taking off his dark sunglasses and raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"No idea," Tyler admitted. "Just this strange feeling that something really awesome is about to happen." He grinned, practically bouncing in his seat. Behind him Jodi rolled her eyes and made sure the sugar was well out of sight before setting his coffee down on the counter.

Burt gave him a strange look. "You're acting almost as strange as Larry," he mumbled.

As if on cue, the sci-fi fanatic rushed in excitedly. "Am I the only one who has a great feeling about today?" he asked.

"Almost," Burt re-enforced under his breath.

"No, but do you have a reason?" Tyler asked.

"Not really," Larry said, shaking his head. "You?" he asked. "Hey, you ever seen that movie Premonition with Sandra Bullock?" he added suddenly.

"Oh yeah, the ending to that was weird," Tyler frowned. "But I highly doubt that's what this is."

"Well, whatever it is, it better not be another destructive monster," Jodi said sternly. "I'm still replacing the merchandise I lost to the last creature."

“Yeah, that one had quite an appetite for sweets, didn’t it?” Tyler chuckled.

"Who would have thought that of a feline?" Burt said. "Must of been the wasp in it," he grumbled.

"What do cats have to do with it?" Larry asked curiously.

Burt rolled his eyes. "They can't taste sweet."

Nancy walked in as he said this. "I always thought that was strange, because I had a cat that liked chocolate mints."

"Chocolate mints are strange," Tyler commented. "They're all chocolaty and...and...minty."

Nancy sighed. "Nice way to put it, Tyler," she teased.

"Hey, Jodi, could I get my coffee?" Burt asked a tad impatiently.

"Mm, sure thing," Jodi replied.

"Soooooooo, Burt," Tyler leaned forward and gazed at the survivalist intently. "What're we doin' today?"

"I have a small Survival School group coming today," Burt reported, sounding annoyed. "A couple of incompetent college kids. Don't you have some tours or something?" he asked.

"Noop," Tyler replied happily. "Can I-?"

"Actually, Tyler," Jodi interrupted quickly. "You do. A group called in late last night, they'll be here around two."

Tyler slumped in his stool sadly. "Man, and I was looking forward to watching Burt go all militanoid on innocent city folk too."

"You can watch that anytime," Nancy promised jokingly.

"I wonder what I'll do today," Larry wondered, sub-consciously rearranging some stuff on a shelf.

"I hear honking," Tyler said suddenly, tilting his head to the side curiously.

"Must be one of our groups," Burt commented. "Let's go see." He stood and walked towards the door.

Tyler followed eagerly but stopped in confusion on the porch. "I don't see any vehicles," he said, looking around carefully as the honking slowly grew louder.

Burt looked around, brow furrowed in confusion. Nancy walked up behind them. "This is very strange," she said.

"I think it's getting louder," Larry stated, kind of covering his ears.

Suddenly there was a flash of light, or darkness really, as something passed overhead at an unbelievable speed. If it had not been for the forceful shaking that made them all lose their footing, Tyler would have thought he imagined the whole thing. His aching bottom however, was painful proof that that was not the case.

"For the love of Pete!" Burt shouted as he scrambled to his feet. "What was that?"

Larry stood and helped Nancy do the same. "That was awesome!" he laughed excitedly.

Tyler pulled himself up and rubbed his back, his eyes glancing across the street momentarily before gazing towards the sky. He stared up for a moment before suddenly looking back across the street again.

He blinked. "Where's my jeep?"

"Where’re _all_ our vehicles?" Jodi added coming out of the store.

Burt's eyes narrowed angrily. "My Power Wagon!" he growled, walking to where his vehicle had been parked. "It was right here!" he said.

Larry's eyes widened. "It stole our cars!"

"Why would it do that?" Jodi asked. "And what was it anyway?"

Burt made a 360 degree turn. "Whatever it was, I won't even be able to track it! There aren't any cars left."

"Maybe Rosalita or Harlow has theirs," Nancy added hopefully.

"Yeah, but they're in Bixby remember?" Tyler pointed out. "And Roger took Casey's truck when he left for that seminar. Our vehicles were the only ones here."

"What are we going to do?" Nancy asked Burt nervously.

"We have to go after it!" Larry said enthusiastically.

"How!?" Jodi cried. "All our cars are gone!"

"We could use Rosalita's horses," Tyler suggested. "Her place is only a couple miles from here, we could walk there easily."

"With that thing flying around?" Jodi asked in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding!"

"I don't think we have much of a choice, Jodi," Nancy said. "Well, we could stay here while they go investigate."

Jodi frowned, not quite sure she liked that idea either.

"How 'bout this," Tyler suggested. "We can stop by Burt's on the way. You guys can stay there and we can get some fire power while we're at it."

Nancy nodded.

"Well, let's get moving!" Larry smiled. "Y'know, this is just like in the newest War of Worlds where all the cars stop working because of the lightning!"

Tyler looked at him in amazement. "On the whole planet?"

"Oh, is this really the time for that?" Jodi snapped, stomping off the porch in a huff.

"...What's her problem?" Tyler asked, looking too innocently confused for his own good.

Larry shrugged. "I dunno, bro. Maybe she doesn't wanna walk to Rosalita's."

Nancy trotted after Jodi. "You okay?" she asked.

Jodi sighed. "Sorry. I'm just feeling really off today. I don't know why."

"It'll be okay. We've been in worse situations," Nancy comforted.

"How long will it take us to get up to Rosalita's?" Larry asked.

"On foot, over an hour," Burt informed.

"Welp, might as well get a move on," Tyler hopped to the ground and headed in the direction of Burt's bunker. "Last one there's Shadow food!"

Jodi groaned. "Burt?" she asked pleadingly.

Burt shook his head. "Tyler, could you please calm down..." he sighed.  "You'd think this Shadow thing is messin' with everyone’s' minds," he added under his breath.

“Come on, guys!” Tyler called one last time and with mixed sighs of annoyance and an excited little whoop from Larry, the others followed quickly, Burt covering the rear. Jodi walked just in front of him wearily. She felt tired and decided that when they got to Burt’s she was going take a nice long nap, with no disruption from any giant shadows or hyperactive tour guides and sci-fi geeks. She couldn’t wait.


	2. It's Raining Trucks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, I completely forgot I was uploading this series on here. Whoops......

Burt quickly and quietly opened the door to his bunker, trying to keep the others from seeing his codes and such. The door clicked open, and the five people entered the underground home.

"This is amazing! I've never been here before!" Larry said, looking around inside.

"Eh, I don't know if I would call it _amazing_ ," Tyler replied.

"It's like the bat cave," Larry said.

"It's a cave alright," Nancy commented with a smirk at Burt, who glared at her in return.

“Whatever,” Jodi yawned widely. “Burt, can I use your bed? I’m beat.”

Burt nodded. "Right over there," he said, pointing to the room he slept in. He then turned to Nancy. "You guys will be fine without us?" he asked. She nodded.

"I'm coming with you guys!" Larry exclaimed excitedly.

"We know Larry," Tyler chuckled. "You're always coming with us whether we like it or not, we've come to expect it."

Larry smiled. "Well, c'mon! We're wasting daylight."

Burt rolled his eyes.

“Have fun,” Jodi said as she disappeared into Burt’s bedroom, waving lazily over her shoulder.

Tyler rubbed his hands together and turned to Burt. “So, any specific weapons you want or are we just gonna take Betsy?”

Burt narrowed his eyes at Tyler's less-than-amusing joke. "Seeing as I no longer have my Power Wagon, I'm afraid we'll have to travel somewhat lighter than that."

"Eagle and some grenades?"

Burt nodded. "You can take one of my pistols," he said, as he loaded himself with ammo and grenades- both concussion and regular. He even handed Larry a concussion grenade. "You might need this if El Blanco shows up."

The sci-fi fan nodded, a little surprised.

Tyler grabbed a pistol for himself and some extra ammo. "Guess we're ready then."

Burt nodded, heading for the stairs. Larry followed him quickly. "Do you guys have any idea what the shadow was?" he asked.

"Well, the honking kinda reminded me of a goose," Tyler said thoughtfully as he followed the other two out the door. "Although I think a giant goose is a little dull for Perfection. See ya later, Nancy," he added.

Nancy gave them a half-wave as they left.

"Well... Maybe it's part goose!" Larry offered, referencing the ever-annoying Mixmaster. "I wonder where it might be."

“Imna go with up in the mountains.”

"Let's hope whatever it is, is attracted to us being out in the open," Burt commented. "We can't go very far unless you want to be trekking around the desert without water at night."

"Well.........."Tyler rolled his eyes in thought, as if honestly considering the idea.

Burt gave him a sharp glare. "Well nothing," he said. He pointed toward a 'V' shaped notch in a mountain on the horizon. "The shadow was heading that way, so that is where we should go."

Tyler grinned. “I was just jokin’ with ya Burt.” He stood to mock attention and pointed to the horizon. “To the mountains!”

Burt rolled his eyes under his sunglasses. Larry walked up next to Tyler. "If we find the Shadow, what are we going to do with it? I mean, we don't even know if it's dangerous," he asked.

Tyler opened his mouth to respond but frowned instead. "Beats me."

Larry shrugged, continuing to walk. "This reminds me of Independence Day, when Will Smith's character is walking through the desert trying to find the military base," he said half-heartedly.

"I love that scene," Tyler said, catching up to him. "Especially when he starts kicking the alien and blaming it for missing a barbecue."

Larry laughed.

"Shouldn't we be focusing on the task at hand?" Burt asked, somewhat annoyed.

"Sorry," Tyler smiled weakly. "It's just.....I still have a really good feeling about all this, it's making me hyper I guess."

"You have a good feeling? About all this?" Burt laughed. "I swear, everyone’s' mind is completely messed up today!"

Tyler stuck his tongue out at him.

Burt decided to divert his attention away from the suddenly-immature man and towards the horizon. He took out his canteen and took a small sip of water. In those couple seconds, he noticed a flicker in the distance. He coughed, nearly choking on his water. "Did... did you guys see something?" he asked.

"Huh? See what?" Tyler asked looking around in confusion.

Larry looked around. "I didn't see anything," he said.

Suddenly there was another flash of light, this time just above them, accompanied by the loud roar of an engine. Tyler looked up just in time to see a blur of dark orange before he noticed the source of the light.

"TRUCK!" he yelled.

Burt and Larry dived out of the way of the falling vehicle.  As it smashed to the ground, the survivalist realized he hadn't seen his friend do the same.

"Tyler!" he called out worriedly. There was no response from the other man.

Larry and Burt scrambled to their feet. Burt ran around to the other side of the truck, looking for Tyler. He found him underneath the wreck, lying unmoving under the bed.

Burt dragged the man out from under the truck by his feet.

Larry looked at the unconscious Tyler, wide-eyed. "Is he okay?" he asked.

Burt felt for his pulse. "He's alive, just unconscious. So much for his good feeling," he said, shaking his head slightly. He took his canteen out, and spared some of his precious water to drizzle it on his face.

It took a few minutes but Tyler finally started to come around, blinking his eyes open slowly.

"You okay, Tyler? That truck must have just caught your head when you tried to leap out of the way." Burt said, looking down at his friend.

"You really scared us!" Larry said.

Tyler rubbed the back of his head gingerly and groaned. "'Just'? Feels like the empire state building landed on me. What gives a truck the right to randomly fall out of the sky like that anyway?"

"I think the question is," Burt said, "Is 'what right that shadow had to drop it on you?'" he said, helping Tyler to his feet.

“Either way, that was rude,” Tyler complained, raising a hand to his head as he swayed slightly on his feet.

"We're going to have to get you back to my bunker," Burt said, helping to support Tyler by slipping his hand under his arm. "You probably have a concussion."

"Well, I guess that Shadow is dangerous," Larry commented.

Tyler waved his hand dismissively. "I'm just a little dizzy from getting up too fast is all. I'll be fine, really."

"I doubt that," Burt grumbled.

"Tyler, you just had a TRUCK dropped on your HEAD," Larry insisted.

Burt nodded. "Besides, there is not much more we can do to track that thing. It's faster than a jet."

"Well, it's not like we'll be able to do anything from your bunker either," Tyler argued.

"At least we will be safe from falling cars," Burt commented. "You got a better idea?"

Tyler sighed but before he could respond the air was suddenly filled with a loud, deafening honk.

Larry covered his ears hard against the sound. "Oh, geez, I know what that means!"

“Not again!” Tyler groaned.

"Wait it out!" Burt ordered. "It may just be after the truck!"

Tyler clamped his hands over his ears as the honking got louder and looked up, trying to spot the Shadow. What he saw was a giant scaled foot with curved claws coming right at them.

"I don't think it's the truck it wants!" he cried.

Burt ran from the talons, pushing a surprised Larry with him. The Shadow was close behind.

Tyler raced after them, stumbling unsteadily on his feet, but it was no use. He felt the scales press against his back and saw the talons closing in front of Burt and Larry. With a snatch and another roaring honk the Shadow snatched them into the air and the last thing Tyler saw was the ground rushing away beneath him.


	3. The Shadow's Cave

They had risen so far off the ground that Burt has passed out from the lack of oxygen. When he finally started to come to, his mind was so groggy it took him awhile to register where he was. He got to his feet. They seemed to be in some very large, very dark cave somewhere in the mountains. Larry wasn't very far from him. He nudged the fanatic's arm with his foot, and his brown eyes slowly flickered open.

"Where... where are we?" he asked slowly, sitting up.

"I don't know..." Burt started but was interrupted by a low rumbling sound. He whirled around. Curled up next to the other side of the cave was a giant orange creature. It was hard to see it in the dark but the creature was somehow casting enough light from its body for Burt to get the more prominent features. Humongous size, glittering orange scales, leathery wings, long feathery tail, and a long scaly neck with a goose head sitting atop it.

"Wow," Larry said. "That is pretty cool. I wonder why it's so big."        

"Never underestimate Mixmaster," Burt commented.

The creature snaked its head forward, coming within inches of Burt before pausing. It sniffed him curiously. Burt stared at the creature, un-moving except for his hand inching towards his Eagle. Suddenly its head turned, drawn by small movement to the side. Tyler stirred, his eyes opening weakly. Shadow moved over to him. Its mouth opened to show a row of small sharp teeth as Tyler struggled to focus on the strange fuzzy blob above him.

"Tyler!" Burt called. "Don't move," he ordered, now going for one of his grenades.

Tyler still wasn’t quite sure what was going on but Burt’s voice penetrated his foggy brain just enough for him to get the message and he lay as still as he could, waiting for whatever was going to happen to happen.

Burt took a step towards the creature, trying to distract it from Tyler. It ignored him, its entire focus on what it saw as the easiest prey in the room. It watched him silently for a moment, before suddenly rearing its head to strike, its large tail sweeping around to knock away the other two men trying to take its meal.

Burt, with an angry shout as he was knocked over, grabbed one of his concussion grenades as he couldn't use a normal one without killing Tyler. He pulled the pin and chucked it at the monster. The grenade bounced off its scales and rolled to a stop between the shadow and Tyler before exploding. There was a loud strangled honk and then everything went quiet and dark.

Dust flew around so thick Burt could barely breathe. Coughing, he scrambled through the darkness. "Tyler! Larry!”

 _‘Why the hell is everything after my head today?’_ Tyler asked himself irritably. He still had no idea what happened, he just knew that after the ear-splitting explosion something had knocked him across the ground, hitting his head for the second time that day. On the bright side he seemed to have landed on something a bit softer than the floor.

Larry groaned. "Uh... Tyler... do you think you can get off me?" he asked timidly.

Burt stood, leaning against a wall and trying to see through the slowly-clearing dust. "Larry?" he called, hearing his voice. "Where are you?”

“Over here,” Tyler replied weakly, rolling off the smaller man and collapsing on the floor next to him.

Burt headed towards the voice. Larry scrambled to his feet and helped Tyler sit up.

When Burt saw Tyler, he winced. The tour guide looked beat to a pulp.

“What just happened?” Tyler asked, looking up at Burt and then his surroundings. “Where are we?”

"That creature brought us here," Burt said. "This cave is probably somewhere up in the mountains, as I suspected," he added.

"We need to get out of here," Larry said, uncharacteristically nervous. "That thing won't be out forever."

“Well, this day just keeps getting’ better an better,” Tyler mumbled sarcastically. He lay back down on the floor, trying to get rid of the light-headedness he was feeling. “And you know what’s even weirder?”

"That you had a good feeling about today?" Larry offered helpfully.

“Weirder,” Tyler replied.

"And what would that be?" Burt asked.

“I still have that good feeling.” Tyler frowned. “It’s a bit different now though. It’s still good but….more important too.”

"How?" Larry asked curiously.

"That's not our main problem right now," Burt interrupted. "Tyler, do you think you can stand?"

Tyler nodded despite the fact that his head was beginning to hurt. “Sure thing. But how are we gonna get out of here?”

Burt reached down and helped Tyler stand slowly. "There is light coming from over there, that's probably near the entrance to the cave," he deduced.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Tyler asked with a faint smile. "Let's get out of here."

Burt nodded, supporting Tyler as they started towards the cave entrance. Larry followed quickly.

Tyler groaned when they reached the edge of the cave. "You've gotta be kidding me."

The cave was located high up on the nearly vertical mountain face with no obvious way up or down.

Burt took off his hat and flung it at the ground, very aggravated. "Now what?" he growled to himself. Things looked very bleak and hopeless.

Larry looked over the edge, eyes growing wide and he swayed a little. "I-I'm not comfortable w-with heights..." he said.

“Well, on the bright side there is one way to ensure not falling to our deaths,” Tyler said.

Larry took a few steps back. "What would that be?" he asked nervously.

“Staying in the cave,” Tyler replied wearily.

"Then we just insure we get killed by Shadow back there," Burt commented.

"Maybe...." Tyler trailed off, finding it hard to think at the moment.

Burt looked around. "It's getting late. We should find a place to sleep for tonight, before it gets too cold."

Tyler just nodded, suddenly slumping against Burt a little. His head was pounding and he was starting to feel dizzy.

Burt struggled to support Tyler's weight, but managed. "Come on, there is a small outcropping-like cave here. That creature won't be able to get us in there," he said, walking towards the cave.

Tyler stumbled along weakly, barely able to support his own weight. It was pure relief when Burt finally set him on the ground. He lay still and tried to stop the throbbing in his head, ignoring the other two.

Burt scowled as he sat down against a wall. He pulled the brim of his hat down around his eyes. Today just _keeps_ getting better.


	4. Into the Desert

A tall dark man walked out of the small hole he had spent the night in and stretched. It had been a little cramped but better than nothing. He still couldn't believe he had been kidnapped by a freakin' dragon with the head of a goose. He sighed. Just when you thought Perfection had dealt out its weirdest.

He pulled out the small pocket flashlight he had thankfully had in his pocket and headed down the dark tunnel to a large cave. It was separated from the creature's cave by a single thick wall and the only way through was a tiny crawlspace near the ceiling about a foot and a half above his head.

Jumping up, he grabbed the edge of the hole and pulled himself in and crawled to the other side. He looked around carefully before climbing out. Looked like the dragon hadn't come back yet. Hopefully he could find a way out of here before it did.

*****************

Burt carefully crawled out from under the outcropping. He took a look around; nothing seemed any different, except the sun was now rising. The sky was clear and there was no sign of "Shadow".

Seeing Larry a few feet away, sleeping, he nudged him awake with his foot. The sci-fi fan's eyes blinked open quickly. "Everything okay, Burt?" he asked, almost enthusiastically.

"As normal as it could get, looking at our current situation," the survivalist responded. He looked over at Tyler. The young tour guide was still fast asleep, looking more peaceful and relaxed than he had since the truck incident.

Larry knelt beside him and gently shook his shoulder. "Tyler? You okay?" he asked, trying to slowly wake him up. He didn’t respond.

Larry shook Tyler a little harder. "C'mon, bro. That dragoose could come any minute."

"I think we'll stick with Shadow for now, Larry," Burt mumbled.

Tyler eyes twitched slightly in his sleep but he still did not wake up.

Larry gave Burt a worried glance then shook Tyler a little more. "Tyler, wake up!" Burt also urged. To no avail. Tyler’s eyes remained closed.

Burt knelt down, Larry's worry now reflected on his own face. He opened one of Tyler's eyes with his fingers, thinking, _'This better not be a concussion.'_

Tyler’s eyes were dilated. Not a good sign. Especially since he had been unconscious for over nine hours.

Burt shook his head. "This isn't good," he growled to himself. He stood up and began to pace. "We have no way to get off this mountain, a dragon after us, and two hundred pounds of dead weight," he said, shaking his head and laughing humorlessly. "Just another average day in Perfection."

Larry looked uncharacteristically down-cast. He stared at his feet and, for a change, didn't say a word.

“Burt? Larry! What are you guys doing here?”

Burt turned around, honestly surprised to hear another human's voice.

“Don’t tell me you guys got caught too,” Roger asked, standing in the opening of the small cave.

"Yeah," Larry answered, "Right after the Shadow dropped a truck on Tyler's head."

"When did it get you, Roger?" Burt asked.

“Halfway to Bixby. Picked me up truck an all and brought me here,” Roger stepped further into the cave, glancing down at Tyler. “And what about a truck?”

"Let's just say Tyler got in a fight with a falling truck and lost," Burt said much too seriously for the joke.

"Then Burt had to throw a concussion grenade to keep that thing from killing him...." Larry added.

Roger raised a slightly confused and worried eyebrow. "Is he ok?"

"Well, he's alive," Burt said. "But we cannot get him to regain consciousness. At first I thought it was a concussion, but it's obviously something worse."

Roger knelt next to Tyler and checked him over. "Well, he's got quite the bump but I'm not sure what's wrong either. Might be a concussion but if it is it's a serious one." He shook his head. "This is more Casey's area than mine."

"Do you have any idea how we can get out of these mountains?" Burt asked.

"Well," Roger frowned slightly. "I might. When I was looking around yesterday I found another tunnel that opens up down there a little ways." He pointed to a spot off to the side further down the mountain face. "I thought I saw a path I could climb down but that stupid dragon creature came back before I could check it out and chased me inside and then guarded the damn hole for several hours so I never got a chance to look again."

Burt nodded. "That's the best idea we've had since we got here."

"But how will we carry Tyler?" Larry asked.

"Pure strength I guess," Roger replied. "There's not any kind of material around to make a stretcher or anything."

"Affirmative," Burt agreed. "Larry, you help me with Tyler. Roger, you lead the way," he instructed. With the help of the science fiction fan, Burt was able to half-carry, half-drag Tyler.

Roger led them back towards the main cave and through the other hidden tunnel until they came to another, slightly larger ledge.

"There's the path," Roger said, pointing to a slightly-too-narrow-for-comfort ledge that sloped down the cliff. "I'm not sure if it leads to the bottom but it should get us away from the creature at least. Although one of us is probably going to have to carry Tyler on our back. I don't think the current way is going to work on such a narrow ledge."

"I'll do that," Burt nodded. "This is going to be difficult."

Roger helped situate Tyler onto Burt's back, stealing Larry's sweater to use as a sort of sling-seat to keep him from simply hanging on Burt. And to finish, a zip-tie that Burt had in his pocket tied Tyler's wrists together so Burt could have his hands free and not have to keep a hold on him.

"Well," Roger said thoughtfully, stepping back to inspect their handiwork. "He'd be mighty confused if he happened to wake up now, but I think it'll work."

Burt moved forward first, slipping along the stone ledge. Larry went next and Roger brought up the rear. They moved slowly, mostly because of the added weight Burt had, and finally reached another ledge. They paused to rest for a moment.

"I wonder how much longer this will go on," Larry said.

"And we will have to do something about Shadow eventually. We need our vehicles back," Burt stated.

"Speak of the devil," Roger muttered, looking up at the sky. Shadow was finally returning, flying straight towards them.

"Great," Burt growled to himself. "Just what we needed." He pulled out a grenade. At the last moment however, the creature suddenly swooped upward, flying into its cave without noticing them.

Roger breathed a sigh of relief. “That was close.”

Burt safely stored the grenade back in his pocket. "Let's keep moving, there is no telling when it'll come back."

The group quickly continued on down the path. After nearly two hours and four more stops, they finally reached the end of the path and they could see the bottom.

"Awesome, we're almost there!" Larry said excitedly. "I wonder how far away we are from your house, Burt."

"I won't be able to tell until we are down there," Burt explained.

They hurried their pace a bit and were soon finally on the ground safe and sound.

Burt took a good long look around. They we just inside the borders of the mountain, in the area where rock bled into desert. "There's the road," he said, pointing. "I can tell our exact location once we are there, out of these stifling boulders."

Roger led the way up to the road and breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar desert stretching out before them.

Burt stood on the familiar road. "I can't carry Tyler anymore," he said, lowering the man to the ground slowly with Roger’s help.

Roger sat down next to him and looked up at Burt. "So, know where we are?"

Burt looked around. "About a mile north-west of my bunker," he said. "We should get there in about half an hour." He took out his canteen, took a drink, and handed it to Roger. He took a quick swig and then handed it off to Larry.

“I can carry Tyler the rest of the way,” he offered.

"Thanks," Burt said. "Let's rest for a moment, then we'll continue.”


	5. The Call for Help

Nancy looked up as four people entered the bunker. It was strange: suddenly Roger was here and Tyler was unconscious. All of this had happened in 24 hours?

"Hey, Nancy," Roger said with forced cheerfulness.

"Hey..." Nancy said, "What... happened?"

"We ran into a bit of trouble," Roger replied.

"What was it?" Nancy asked.

"Kinda like a dragon, but with a goose head," Larry explained.

Nancy shrugged. "I guess that explains the honking."

"Burt," Roger shifted Tyler's weight slightly. "Think you could find a place I can lay him down, he's getting heavy."

Suddenly, realization hit Nancy as the initial confusion ebbed. "Oh! Right... uh, Burt?"

The survivalist went into a closet and pulled out a folded cot, opening it up for Roger to put Tyler on.

He laid him down carefully, arranging him comfortably on the cot.

"What happened to him?" Nancy asked, fussing over the unconscious tour guide.

"The creature dropped a car on top of him," Burt explained, receiving an odd look from her.

“Don’t ask, it’s more confusing than it sounds,” Roger advised.

"I figured," Nancy responded. "And what happened to you?" she asked Roger.

“Creature picked me up car and all on my way to Bixby,” he replied.

"Where were you guys, anyway?" she asked.

“Some cave up in the mountains,” Burt said.

"Whoa, that's a pretty long way off," Nancy commented.

"We had to walk the whole way, too," Larry added.

“With Tyler on our backs,” Roger added as well. “We couldn’t get him to wake up this morning.”

"He has to be dehydrated or something. We need to get him to the hospital in Bixby," Nancy said worriedly.

"We just need a car," Burt said sarcastically.

"On the bright side, now that we're here we can at least keep him hydrated," Roger explained, refilling Burt's canteen at the sink. "I've learned that much from Casey at least." He carefully supported Tyler's head and opened his mouth, pouring the fresh water down his throat slowly.

Burt nodded. "And we are going to have to figure out what to do about Shadow."

"By the way, he hasn't attacked any buildings has he?" Roger asked worriedly.

"Not that I know of," Nancy responded. "But I've been down here the entire time, so I don't know if anything else has happened."

Roger let out a sigh of relief. He could breathe a little easier now knowing Casey would be safe. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she got hurt or kidnapped by that thing.

"I suppose the best thing we could do for now is rest and recover," Burt commented.

"Maybe we should wake Jodi, she was very worried when you guys weren't back last night," Nancy said.

Roger nodded. "In the mean time, food. I'm starving."

"I've enough MRE's for everyone," Burt assured.

"I guess if there is no other choice..." Nancy mumbled.

"I'm not complainin'," Roger said. "That thing picked me up a day earlier than you guys so I would even eat my uncles beetle pancakes right now."

Burt grabbed a couple of MREs and handed them out to Roger, Larry, and Nancy.

"I'll go wake up Jodi," Larry offered, going into the other room. "Hey, sleepy person," he said, gently shaking her. Jodi grumbled sleepily and turned away from him.

"Jodi... Wake up," he said softly, shaking her a little more.

"Mmmph," Jodi cracked her eyes open and glared at him for a moment before recognizing who it was. "Larry?"

The sci-fi fan smiled. "Yep," he responded.

Jodi stared at him for a moment longer before her eyes suddenly widened and she leaped off the bed and just about tackled him into a bear hug. "Thank goodness I was so worried!"

Larry laughed, hugging her back. "Sorry, we kind of got captured by that Shadow and Tyler is unconscious..." he explained.

"What!" Jodi stared at him in shock. "What happened to you guys?" she demanded, her voice taking on the tone only women of Perfection managed to achieve.

Larry shrugged. "Shadow dropped a truck on Tyler, then took us all to its cave, then tried to eat Tyler. So Burt threw a concussion grenade, then Roger showed up, then we came back," he explained.

Jodi blinked.

"You can get off me now," he offered, sort of uncomfortably.

Jodi let go of him, shaking her head and hurrying out to the main room. She gasped at the men's drawn faces. "Are you guys ok?" she asked worriedly, her gaze drawn to Tyler lying limply on the cot.

"We're fine," Bury informed, "But we haven't been able to wake Tyler."

“Why not? What’s wrong with him?”

"He may have a concussion," Burt said, "And a serious one at that."

"Is he gonna be ok?" she asked, her eyes widening in fear and guilt.

"We probably should get him to a hospital," Nancy said, "But that's not really possible right now.”

“Couldn’t we call Twitchell?” Roger asked. “Get him to spring for a helicopter. They’re faster than cars, it might stand more of a chance of outrunning...er…flying the Shadow thing.”

"I don't have a phone," Burt growled, "And we can't use cells in the valley."

"We have one at the lab," Roger said. "We could contact Casey over the radio and she could call for help. And also let her know what's going on."

Burt nodded, tossing his walkie-talkie to Roger.

Roger caught it and quickly turned it on. "Casey? You there?"

"Roger?" Casey's voice came through the walkie-talkie. "Where are you? I wasn't expecting you back from the seminar until tomorrow," she said, and it was obvious she had no idea what was going on with Shadow.

"I never made it to the seminar," Roger replied. He continued quickly before she could interrupt. "Listen, there's a new mixmaster creation running around. It's already injured Tyler. We need you to get a hold of Twitchell and get a helicopter here to Burt's house. And don't go outside, whatever you do. That thing’s fast."

"O-okay," she responded. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Roger assured her. "But you need to hurry. Tyler's been unconscious for almost a day now, we're afraid he might have severe head trauma."

"Okay," Casey said, "I'll send Twitch ASAP."

"Thanks. And remember, don't go outside."

"Don't worry, I won't," she assured.

"Good girl," Roger smiled slightly and handed the radio back to Burt. "If all goes well we'll have Tyler out of here by the end of the day."

“Since when has anything ever gone right in Perfection?” Nancy mumbled, barely audible.

Roger sighed, “Well. Guess now’s as good a time as ever for a nap. I love the desert but hiking for hours on end in it just doesn’t suit well for me.”

“Go ahead,” Burt said. “I’ll keep a look out for the helicopter.” He looked through his periscope, but he knew the copter would not come for a while.


	6. Panic Striken

Twitchell glared out the window of the helicopter and watched the land below zip past. He had been enjoying a day off with his family when he got the call from Casey. A new mixmaster creation. In _his_ valley. Despite all his harsh words and silly complaints he actually loved this valley and its inhabitants. The human ones anyway and for the most part a certain overgrown worm. He always hated getting the call that something new was in the valley, threatening their lives. And this time it had gone a step further and actually harmed one of them. Twitchell had said just about every curse he knew when Casey told him that Tyler had been injured. She didn't know how but said that he had been unconscious for quite awhile now and may have a severe concussion. He had managed to calm down enough to ask what the creature was but she didn't know anything other than it was incredibly fast.

"We're here, sir!" the pilot called over the roar of the blades, tearing Twitchell from his thoughts. They landed just inside Burt's compound. Twitchell hurried down the stairs while the paramedics followed behind him holding a stretcher. The door opened just before he reached it.

Burt stood at the door, letting Twitch and the paramedics past. "Got here sooner than we expected, Twitchell," he commented.

"You wanna tell me what the hell is going on?" Twitchell demanded, watching the medics fussing over Tyler.

Burt's brow furrowed. "Mixmaster has created some sort of dragon creature," he explained. "It stole our cars, then dropped a truck on Tyler, _then_ kidnapped us. Y'know, I'm getting very tired of explaining this," he added, sounding very irritated.

"Yeah, well, line all your ducks up in a row next time," Twitchell replied and turned to the others. "No one else is hurt?"

"We're all fine," Nancy responded. "Tyler was the only one hurt."

"Hm. Any ideas on how to kill it?"

"It seems pretty weak against my concussion grenades," Burt informed, "So some sort of explosion would probably be best."

"I don't know if we should kill it," Jodi broke in quietly.

Everyone looked at her, very confused. "Why not?" Burt asked.

Jodi frowned. “I’m not sure, it’s just…….a feeling. An important feeling.”

Burt scowled. "Did Tyler hand it off to you or something?" he growled, very annoyed.

"Jodi, it almost killed Tyler. It's dangerous," Nancy added.

"I know! It's just......" Jodi sighed. "I can't explain it. It's just a feeling." She glanced at Larry. "You had one like it too yesterday, right? A feeling that something good and incredibly important was going to happen?"

Larry nodded, though looking a bit confused. "Uh, yeah! I did, and still kinda do," he agreed.

Jodi looked back to Burt, “And I know Tyler felt it too, stronger than we did I think.”

Burt shook his head reluctantly. "But what are we going to do? Let that thing stay here and keep us locked up in a basement?" he asked.

Twitchell huffed. "I don't know what nonsense has gotten into you people's brains, but that thing is _threatening_ the valley! And I'm not about to let anymore of you idiots get hurt or killed.”

"I think we should listen to Jodi and Larry on this," Nancy argued.

“Why?”

"Three people in this town have the feeling that something important is about to happen," she responded. "That can't be a coincidence."

"Wha-?" Twitchell looked over to Burt. "Don't tell me you think the same way."

"I think they've all gone insane," he mumbled.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Twitchell muttered. “But it seems Gummer is the only one with any sense around here.”

"Do any of you even have any idea what we could do besides kill this thing?" Burt offered.

Jodi shared a glance at Nancy and Larry and shook her head.

"Well, until you guys figure something out, I'm going to focus on getting rid of that thing!"

Jodi sighed but before she could respond one of the paramedics stuck his head through the front door. "Excuse me. Your friend, he's awake...sort of. And a little freaked out. He won't let us put him in the helicopter. Could one of you come talk to him? A familiar face might help."

Burt nodded and followed the paramedic out. Tyler was sitting on the stretcher with a blanket wrapped around him. One of the other paramedics was talking to him quietly. They both looked up as Burt walked over.

"Tyler," Burt said with a smile. "Feeling any better? You've been out for nearly 24 hours."

"Don't make me leave," Tyler said quietly. His eyes looked almost terrified.

"You have to go to the hospital," Burt told him. Suddenly, Nancy was running up to them.

"I'll go with him," she offered.

Tyler shook his head frantically. "We can't leave! No one can."

Burt raised a confused eyebrow. "Why not?" he asked.

“W-we just can’t.”

Burt rolled his eyes. "Tyler, you have a head injury. We need to get you to a hospital."

Tyler's eyes widened slightly in panic. "No! It won't work if we leave, we can't!" Tyler's voice was almost hysterical. The paramedic moved to grab him but the terrified tour-guide jumped to his feet and scrambled away from him, stumbling unsteadily.

"Tyler! Calm down," Burt urged, worry surging inside him. This was really strange. "What won't work?"

Tyler just shook his head, still moving backwards. He suddenly lost his footing and stumbled into Burt, gripping his arm tightly to keep from falling. He stood there, clutching Burt and shaking.

Burt moved Tyler so he would sit back down on the stretcher. "Tyler, calm down. They'll get you the hospital. Safe," he assured.

Tyler shook his head again and clung to Burt, refusing to move.

"What the heck is wrong with him?" Twitchell asked, watching Tyler with worried eyes. He had never seen the man this terrified before.

"He's in a state of shock from the injury," one of the paramedics replied. "But I don't think that's what's causing his fear of leaving."

"Don't you guys have a lab out here?" a female medic asked.

"There's a lab a little ways that way," Nancy spoke up, pointing to the west.

The women turned to her comrade. "Maybe we should take him there. We'll be able to support him and it'll probably calm him down."

"Why can't you just sedate him?" Twitchell asked.

"You never sedate someone with a head injury," the man replied. "They could slip into a coma."

"Okay," Burt said. "Take Tyler to the lab. Nancy, you go with them." She nodded.

After convincing Tyler that they weren’t going to take him out of the valley and with some extra coaxing from Burt and Nancy the paramedics managed to get the spooked man into the helicopter.

Burt instinctively scanned the sky before returning into the bunker. "Finally that’s over," he grumbled. Twitchell followed him, shaking his head. He had a feeling this was going to be a lot more complicated than he had first thought.


	7. Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot how annoyed I get at this story because of the many "really big day"s and stuff we did. OMCHEESE. Looking back at old work is so painful.

Larry looked at them, confused, as they entered. "What happened?" he asked.

"Tyler was freaking out," Twitchell replied.

"Did you get him to go?" Larry asked.

"We compromised," Twitchell said. "Sent him to the lab."

"You shoulda told Roger," Larry commented. "He probably would have wanted to go," he said.

"Roger's here?" Twitchell asked in surprise.

Burt nodded. "He's the one who got the idea to contact Casey."

"Where is he?"

"Probably still sleeping," Burt said.

Twitchell sighed. "So now what?"

"I guess I could plan my strategy to get rid of Shadow," Burt said.

Jodi glared at him. Burt glared back. "I'll be in the safe room," he growled, entering the iron-doored room.

Jodi huffed and Twitchell rolled his eyes before following Burt into the safe room. "So do you have sort of plan?"

"If we can get up into the mountains with that helicopter," Burt started, "We could rig some explosives in Shadow's cave to go off when it enters."

Twitchell nodded, looking thoughtful. "Do you think...what Tyler was saying has any importance?" he asked.

"Why, do you?" he deflected.

"Well, not really, but...why was he so scared to leave the valley?"

"I'm not sure," Burt shook his head. "He was too panicked to tell me."

Twitchell shook his head wearily. "This is getting too weird for me."

Burt rolled his eyes. "Unless you have something helpful to add to this..." he grumbled.

"Whatever," Twitchell sighed and headed back out. "The car we had follow us should be here by now. I'm gonna go up to the lab and talk to Casey. Larry, go get Roger if he wants to come."

Larry nodded. He opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Roger, wake up. Twitch is heading up to the lab," he said.

Roger started awake. "Huh? Twitch is here?"

"Yeah," Larry said. "They took Tyler to the lab because he panicked and wouldn't let them take him out of the valley..." he added.

Roger swung himself out of the bed and followed Larry out into the main room.

"You comin' Roger?" Twitchell asked. "Car's here."

"Yep," Roger waved goodbye to the others and the two disappeared out the door.

* * *

Casey sat in the lab, plainly worried out of her mind. She had just gotten a call saying Tyler was being brought here because he wouldn't leave the valley. But did she really have the facilities here to care for a man with a head-injury?

The sound of a helicopter broke her out of her thoughts. It landed next to the lab and the paramedics, Tyler, and Nancy climbed out.

Casey rushed out to meet them. "Wow. I didn't think you guys would get here so fast," she commented. She suddenly looked a little disappointed. "Roger didn't come with you guys?"

"No, sorry," Nancy said.

Casey turned to the paramedics. "How is Tyler doing?" she asked.

"A lot calmer now that he's not leaving the valley," the female medic responded.

"Okay, well, let's get him inside," Casey urged, holding open the door to the dome-shaped lab.

Tyler stuck close to Nancy as they followed Casey inside.

Casey led them to the area with the steel table. "I hope this is good; this is really just a research lab, I'm not prepared for this," she said.

"It should do just fine."

Nancy comforted the still sort of freaked out Tyler as she had him sit down at the table.

Twitchell and Roger walked in about 15 minutes later, surprising the others.

"Hey guys," Twitchell greeted.

Casey looked up suddenly, a bit shocked, but her face lit up with a smile. "Roger!" she said happily, all but ignoring Twitchell.

"Hey Case," Roger said, hugging her briefly before turning to Nancy and Tyler. "How's our tour guide doin'?"

"They said Tyler seems to be doing better," Nancy informed.

"Good," Twitchell fixed Tyler with a stern glare. "'Cause I ain't about to have the loss of a civilian on my résumé, got it?"

Tyler nodded, smiling slightly at Twitchell's way of expressing his feelings. He certainly  _seemed_  a lot calmer. Twitchell just wished he knew exactly what had Tyler freaking out in the first place.

"Roger, what was the thing that attacked you guys, anyway?" Casey asked him curiously.

"Some type of a dragon with a goose head," he replied.

"Well, that's not anything I expected," she commented.

"Dragon with a goose head?" Twitchell exclaimed. "What kinda random creation is that?"

"It's not random," Tyler murmured.

They all looked at the man. "What are you talking about?" Casey asked.

"Well, I the combination of animals is random I guess, but..." Tyler paused, looking uncertain. "It's here for a reason."

Casey looked at him, confused. "Why?"

"I...I don't know," Tyler frowned suddenly. "But we can't kill it. Whatever we do we can't kill it."

"Jodi and Larry said the same thing," Nancy said.

Roger sighed. "This just seems to be getting more and more complicated."

"No kidding." Casey said, looking worried.

"What about the whole thing about leaving the valley?" Twitchell asked. "Do you know that at least?"

Tyler sighed. "All I know is that something really important is going to happen that involves that creature. But it won't happen if we leave. I don't know why."

"Tyler," Casey said, "Is it really that smart to trust a feeling?"

"Well, Burt does it all the time doesn't he?" Tyler asked wearily. "When he trusts his instincts about another monster..."

"But usually he's saying we have to kill the thing," Nancy mumbled.

"Not with Larry's Invisibat," Tyler argued. "Or El Blanco. And El Blanco's always causing a threat but the benefit of having him here outweighs the consequences. Maybe it's the same with Shadow."

"What benefits, though?" Casey asked.

"I don't know!" Tyler leaned forward with his head in his hands, looking exasperated.

"I think we should let Tyler rest for awhile," the medic suggested, moving to usher the others out of the room before turning to Nancy. "You can stay with him and make sure he doesn't fall asleep; but no more questions."

Nancy nodded. Casey left the lab, followed by the others. She found herself leaning against the wall of the outer-lab, looking out across the desert, fearful of the skies.

Roger joined her silently, following her gaze. "Believe there really is something bigger to this?"

"I have no idea," Casey shook her head. "You?" she asked.

"Well, it's kinda hard to believe this all  _just_  coincidence."

The red-headed scientist nodded half-heartedly. "But it's obviously not safe to be around it. If there is something we should do about it, I hope we figure it out soon."

"Well there's not much we can do now," Roger said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "It's been a bit of a big day for all of us. Let's just leave it for tomorrow and hope for the best."

Casey didn't responded, just leaned into Roger a little, seeking comfort and he pulled her into a hug. Yeah, a  _really_ big day.


	8. The Dream Sequence Always Rings Thrice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title fer this chapter is a reference from a fav show of Rumpy's. I don't remember what it is, but yeah.

_"Are you sure this will work?"_

_"This creature was made specifically with this in mind."_

_"What if they find out that it's not a random creation of Mixmaster?"_

_"That's what the other animal features are for. Just enough of a random mix to convince them."_

* * *

_"GET IT! DON'T LET IT ESCAPE!"_

_Men in white coats; a small dragon with the head of a goose; an explosion; screaming._

* * *

_"What happened here?"_

_"The creature. It's smarter than we thought. It figured it out."_

_"What do you mean? That's impossible!"_

_"No, Sir. It knows everything. It wants to stop us."_

_"It can't. Not by itself."_

_"And if it gets help?"_

_"It's an animal, where is it going to get help? The residents?"_

_"He's right. It's of no harm to us. We can create another one. One that won't turn. Our plan can still succeed."_

_"Good. And don't forget the human residents. The plan won't work if they stay there. I want them out."_

_"Yes Sir."_

* * *

Jodi jerked awake in surprise, shaking. She looked around, relaxing for a moment when she recognized the gray interior of Burt's bunker. She sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes. That had been such a strange dream. Especially the-

"Shadow!" Jodi eyes suddenly widened and she jumped out of the bed as realization hit her and ran from the room. "Burt!"

The survivalist jumped away at the sound of his name, jolting out of the chair he had drifted off in. He ran towards Jodi's panicked-sounding yell. "What's wrong?"

"We can't kill Shadow!" Jodi said breathlessly.

Burt rolled his eyes. "You've mentioned that," he mumbled.

"I mean it Burt! Tyler was right, there  _is_  something important going on!"

"And what evidence do you even have of this?" Burt growled, at his wits-end.

Suddenly, Larry stuck his head around a corner. "Woah, I just had a crazy dream! It had Shadow and scientists in it!" he said.

Jodi whirled around. "You had it too?"

Larry's eyes widened. "You had it?" he asked. Burt gaped at the two of them.

"What did you see?" Jodi demanded.

"Umm... Young Shadow, some scientists talking about... something..." he said, trying to remember. "They mentioned that it got away..."

"Because it didn't agree with their plan. It wanted to stop them," Jodi finished.

"Yeah, yeah!" Larry agreed, nodding.

Jodi turned to Burt, her eyes shining with excitement. "See? There really is something behind this! It can't possibly be just coincidence that we had the same dream!"

"I suppose so..." Burt mumbled reluctantly.

"Call Twitchell to come get us," Jodi urged. "I want to talk to Tyler, see if he had the same dream."

Burt pulled out his walkie-talkie. "Twitch, this is Burt, over."

"Yeah, Gummer, what'dya want?" Twitchell's voice crackled over the radio.

"We need you to come pick us up," Burt said into the radio. "We've had some... developments."

"…I have some strange feeling I'm not really going to like this," Twitchell sighed. "All right, I'll be there in a bit."

"You probably won't," Burt mumbled. "Burt, out."

* * *

Burt walked into the lab half an hour later. "We need to talk to Tyler," he said.

The paramedic gestured to the side room Tyler was in. He looked up as they came in, looking much calmer and more alert than they had last seen him.

"Hey guys. What's up?"

"Did you happen to have a... strange dream last night?" Burt asked, slightly uncomfortably. "These two claimed to have had identical dreams about Shadow."

Tyler gave them a blank look. "What?"

"Larry and I had the same dream last night about Shadow," Jodi explained, sitting next to him on the cot. "There were these scientists talking about a creature they had made purposefully to look like a random mix of creatures. And then it showed the creature escaping..."

"And it was a young Shadow," Larry added. "You didn't have the dream?" he asked.

Tyler frowned. "I don't remember having one...but, that does sound familiar..."

It was then that Nancy walked back into the room. "Oh, hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"What do you mean it sounds familiar?" Jodi asked, too fixated to fully acknowledge the older woman.

"What sounds familiar?" Nancy asked.

"Some dream she and Larry had last night," Twitchell replied, coming up behind her. "Something to do with the creature apparently."

"What about Shadow?" Jodi urged. "Do you remember seeing him? As a baby?"

"I haven't even seen him as he is now," Tyler pointed out. "I wasn't fully conscious when he tried to eat me and he disappeared after Burt threw the grenade. All I remember is bright orange."

Larry looked slightly disappointed as he turned to Jodi. "So he didn't have the dream," he commented.

"But he didn't really sleep much," Nancy put in.

Tyler looked at them apologetically. "Sorry guys. Everything  _sounds_  like something I've seen before but I don't remember it."

"It could be he had the dream while he was unconscious," a nurse from behind them said as he came in, startling the others. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude but I couldn't help but catch some of the conversation."

"What does having the dream while he was unconscious have to do with anything?" Twitchell asked.

"Well, he may have had it but due to the concussion it just got jumbled up so he can't remember. But when he hears about it it's familiar. We've had similar scenarios with other patients before, just, not with dreams."

"That could explain why you guys seem to be one step behind what he knows," Burt mumbled thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Tyler asked.

"You were saying that we can't leave the valley," Larry answered, understanding what Burt said. "We didn't know that as sure as you did until we saw in the dream that the scientists want us to leave."

"For a presumably bad reason," Burt added.

"Oh."

"This is all very interesting news and all, but how exactly does it help us?" Twitchell asked.

"Well, it seems to have Burt on our side," Nancy offered with a slight smirk.

"We'll have to talk to it," Tyler said.

"Yeah, but how do we do that?" Jodi wondered.

"Why do we have to talk to it?" Twitchell demanded. "Am I the only one who remembers the fact that thing tried to  _kill_  you?"

"Maybe that's not what it was trying to do," Jodi replied thoughtfully. "That's just what we assumed from past experiences."

"It smacked us to the ground with its tail," Burt said.

"Well what would you do if you had been raised in a lab with a bunch of mean scientists and then the first humans you ran into after that came at you in a threatening manner?" Jodi asked. "You would try to protect yourself too."

Burt nodded reluctantly. "If we are to... talk with this thing... I just wish we knew how," he mumbled.

"Maybe it'll come to us," Tyler suggested. "If it's smart enough to figure out what the scientists want and wants to stop them it should be smart enough to figure out how to get us to understand it."

Jodi looked at him with a small smile. "I guess you really did have that dream then."

"Huh?" Tyler gave her a questioning look.

"We didn't tell you it was smart enough to figure out what the scientists were doing, or that it wanted to stop them," Larry smiled.

Tyler blinked. "Oh."

"So, I suppose all we can do now is wait," Burt shrugged.

Twitchell sighed. "I can already tell this is going to be a looong day."


	9. Shadow Communicates…Kinda

It was mid-day for the Perfectionites. Casey and Roger had been informed of the... unusual developments in the Shadow problem, which had answered some questions but added more. Who were the scientists and what was the dragon-goose trying to stop them from doing? Where was this lab that they were seeing in the dreams? How would Shadow "talk" to them?

Casey sat at her computer. She had her face in her palms, feeling helpless and useless without being able to help her friends.

"Casey?" Jodi's voice came from behind her. "You ok?"

The scientist looked up, startled out of her thoughts. "Yeah, just tired," she lied.

Jodi sighed and sat down next to her. "Come on, Case, you're going to have to do better than that if you want to get something past a women of Perfection. We have too much practice with the boys," she smiled. "Now what's wrong?"

Casey sighed. "I just wish there was something I could do," she said. "This could be one of the most important things to happen in this valley, and there is nothing I can do."

"We all feel that way," Jodi admitted. "But there's nothing any of us can really do. And just because you're a scientist doesn't mean we expect you to know all the answers. You and Roger have become part of the town, " she elbowed her in the side teasingly. "You're allowed to be confused with the rest of us now."

Casey smiled at her thankfully. "You're right, thanks, Jodi."

The moment was interrupted a sudden thud and a scream from outside.

"What on earth?" Jodi jumped to her feet and followed Casey outside.

The two women exploded out the doors, fearful of what it may be. What they found was Shadow, sitting right next to the lab and staring at a terrified medic. The woman was standing stock-still and hardly daring to breathe.

"Burt!" Casey called out, freezing in fear.

The men came rushing out of the lab, skidding to a stop behind the two women.

"What the-?" Roger stared at the beast in surprise.

"I guess he got our call," Tyler joked.

"I wonder what it wants, now," Burt growled, staring at the creature and resisting the urge to grab for his Eagle. "If Shadow has something to 'tell' us, now would be the time."

"I think it's trying to," Jodi murmured, tilting her head curiously.

Tyler frowned. "Yeah, you're right."

Burt took a step towards the creature, as non-threateningly as possible.

"Do you hear it too, Burt?" Tyler asked.

Burt looked at Tyler and gave him a small nod. It wasn't very loud but they could all hear a low grumble in their minds that sounded like they were supposed to be words. What it was saying though was beyond them.

"I don't understand it," Burt said, turning around and looking at the others.

"Me neither," Tyler agreed.

"Looks like we are back to square one," Casey stated.

Shadow looked at them, tilting his head a little as if trying to figure out what they were saying as well. The sounds in their heads stopped for a moment before continuing.

Tyler stepped past Burt to move closer to the creature.

"Be careful, Tyler," Burt warned.

"I don't think it wants to hurt us," Tyler replied, stepping closer. The creature moved its head toward him, sniffing.

"So you say, but didn't it try to eat you last time?" Twitchell asked.

As if prove his point Shadow suddenly opened his mouth next to Tyler's head. The man shot backwards as it snapped shut, tripping over his feet and falling.

Burt drew his small, silver gun, pointing at the creature. "I knew it," the survivalist growled.

"Wait!" Jodi, Larry, and Tyler's voices cried out at the same time.

"What now?" Burt barked. "You all saw that for yourself."

"Listen!" Jodi urged.

Burt stopped, straining to hear what she was referring to.

It was choppy and hard to understand but they could just barely make out a soft, 'Sorry' echoing through their minds.

"Um...that's ok," Tyler replied uncertainly.

"This is so cool!" Larry said.

"Telepathic," Roger murmured. "This must be how it figured out what the scientists where planning."

"That's incredible!" Casey beamed. "Far beyond the abilities of Mixmaster. This is something much, much different."

"It's speaking to us with its mind?" Twitchell asked doubtfully.

"It's not that odd," Roger replied. "There's a lot of the brain most animals don't use. The scientists must have somehow managed to tap into another part of Shadows'...that's why he's so smart."

"Cool," Tyler grinned.

"It doesn't seem to be extremely skilled at communicating," Burt commented, lowering his gun. "Hopefully it will tell us whatever it wants to say now, though."

Twitchell grumbled under his breath.

"Oh, calm down Twitch," Tyler told him. "At least it's not trying to kill us."

"...Am I the only one who saw what happened when you walked up to it?"

"It said 'sorry'," Larry said pointedly.

"Maybe it's just scared of people," Nancy said.

"I know I would be if I grew up in a lab with those scientists," Jodi agreed.

Burt mumbled agreement, walking foreword and helping Tyler up slowly.

"So...now what?" Tyler brushed himself off and glanced at Shadow. "Wow, he really does look like an actual dragon...where do you think they managed that?" he asked Burt, as if somehow knowing the survivalist would know the answer.

"Isolated specific traits from lizards, birds, maybe some feline by the look of it," Burt observed.

"Possibly," Casey agreed, "Though some scientists have speculated the actual existence of dragons, due to them being believed in by so many cultures despite never having any known contact. Maybe these scientists were trying to clone a dragon using some sort of DNA they found. But, they had to use genetic information from other animals to fill in missing sections of the DNA."

"Like in Jurassic Park!" Larry said excited.

"Exactly," Casey nodded.

"So it's actually part dragon?" Tyler asked in amazement. " _Real_  dragon?"

" _Why_  is that so fascinating?" Twitchell mumbled under his breath. He was starting think this was just one wacked out dream he was having. He was hoping that too.

"It's possible," Casey re-stated, "But, I think... I think I have a feeling about it."

" _More_  feelings?" Burt groaned.

"What kind of a feeling?" Roger asked.

"Like, something's telling me it really is a dragon," she said.

Jodi's eyes widened. "Wow."

"You know, I've always loved dragons," Tyler commented.

"The dragon almost killed you," Burt mumbled.

"Ironic isn't it?" Tyler grinned. Burt just rolled his eyes.

"No kidding," Nancy said.

Suddenly Shadow pulled back, letting out a loud honk. The Perfectionites could hear him trying to speak in their minds but couldn't make out what he was saying. They didn't have time to figure out though as Shadow spread his wings and lifted himself up into the air with a giant gust of wind, forcing the humans to cover their faces to protect from the dust.

Unfortunately, that kept them from seeing what Shadow did next. The dragon creature swooped forward with his claws outstretched. Tyler was the first to notice, calling out a warning to the others. They dove out of the way, narrowly missing the sharp talons, and Shadow pulled up again, flying off.

"Why on earth did he do that?" Jodi asked.

Roger sighed. "Who kn-"

"DAMN!" Tyler's outburst startled them.

"What?"

Tyler glared up at the sky, "It took Burt, Casey, and Twitch."


	10. Fourth Wall

Once again, the dragon-goose soared so high the oxygen was limited. When the three recovered from the unconsciousness that ensued, they found themselves in a cave way too familiar to Burt.

"Ugh. Where are we?" Twitchell asked, trying to rub the fogginess out of his brain.

Burt looked around as he stood up, brow furrowed. "Shadow's cave," he grumbled, then added, under his breath, "Good for nothing dragon."

"This is where it took you guys the first time?" Twitchell looked around wearily. "Doesn't look like much. Why would it bring you here again?"

"I think this is its den or something," Burt answered.

Casey lay on her side, closer to the entrance to the cave. She began to regain consciousness, mind fuzzy as she attempted to take in her surroundings.

"You ok, Casey?" Twitchell asked, moving over to her and helping her sit up.

Casey nodded, mind clearing. "Yeah... where are we?" she asked.

"Shadows' cave apparently," he replied. He looked over to Burt. "Any idea how we're gonna get out of here?"

"Outside the cave is a ledge leading down to the desert," Burt reported. "That's how we got back last time."

Casey shrugged. "I guess that's our best bet," she said.

Twitchell turned to look out the cave mouth and frowned. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think we're going to be getting out that way this time."

"And why would that be, Twitch?" Burt asked, turning around to look.

"We have a guard," Twitchell gestured to the large, orange, dragongoose sitting just outside. "And I don't think he wants us to leave."

Burt mumbled something under his breath. "Let's try heading further into the cave, then. There may be somewhere we can escape that way."

Twitchell nodded, helping Casey to her feet, and they followed after the paranoid survivalist, keeping an eye out for another opening.

Casey shook her head. "I seriously can't figure out what Shadow really wants," she said as they walked.

"Welcome to my world," Twitchell muttered quietly. "Hey, what's that?" he asked, pausing next to an almost invisible hole in the floor.

Burt kneeled beside it, peering into it. He felt a slight breeze on his face from it, but it was jet black. "It's a tunnel or something, probably leads very far down."

"Think it leads out of here?"

"Possibly..." Burt mused. "But it seems to go very far down, and we could easily fall to our deaths."

"Yikes," Casey said, looking down and shuddering.

Twitchell raised an eyebrow at him. "So? Don't you always have a flashlight or matches with you? Just check."

He pulled out a small glow-stick, cracked it, and it glowed orange. He dropped it down the dark hole. The stick dropped down about five feet before hitting the bottom and started to roll a ways to the left.

"Well, we probably wouldn't fall to our deaths," Burt stated, "But just to be careful, Twitchell, you go first."

"Wha-? Why do  _I_  have to go first!"

"You're the one who found it," Burt said.

"Besides," Casey added with her best innocent smile. "I'm still faint from that tragic experience and Burt has to stay up here in case something attacks."

Twitchell glared at them both before turning and crouching down next to the hole. Threats of kicking them all out of the valley and locking them in a deep dark dungeon in some military base could faintly be heard as the DOI agent jumped down into the tunnel.

Burt rolled his eyes as he followed Twitch. Casey went next.

"Hey, there's a light down here," Twitchell said, already a ways inside.

"Finally some good news!" Burt called.

Twitchell crept closer until he could see the source. It was coming from a small hole on the side of the tunnel. He knelt down and looked out.

"Uhhhhhhhh, I don't know if I would actually call this  _good_  news," he replied.

"What is it?" Burt asked as he caught up with Twitchell.

"I think it's the lab."

"What?" Burt said, kind of pushing Twitch out of the way to see.

On the other side of the peep hole was a large room filled with beeping machines, computers and a number of cages lined up against the far wall. A long hallway could just be seen past the door along with two men in long white lab coats talking to each other and not trying in the slightest to keep themselves from being heard.

Burt's eyes widened. "The lab... is still active?" he gasped, non-believing. Casey was approaching them from behind.

"Maybe they're a part of the rogue operation," Twitchell whispered. "What are they talking about?"

Burt stained to hear. "Something about... a new hybrid... they aren't sure if a..." he rolled his eyes, "A hippo tiger mix would be dangerous."

"Yeah, I would imagine so," Twitchell muttered. "Anything else? Preferably why we're here?"

"You're the government man! You tell me!"

"I thought we already made it clear that I know nothing about secret government operations!"

"What makes you think I would know, then?"

"Guys, please!" Casey hissed. "Quiet, before they hear us."

Both men snapped their mouths shut, still glaring at each other, and went back to the conversation below them.

"...the residents? Are there any problems?"

"No, everything is proceeding smoothly."

"Good. Bossman won't be too happy if this falls through too. It's the last chance we have."

"They're talking about us," Burt mumbled angrily.

"Aren't you worried the dragoose will somehow alert them to our location though?"

"Looks like they have Larry's sense of naming," Twitchell murmured, rolling his eyes.

"There's no need to," the other scientist replied. "The residents will kill it before then, thinking it's just another random creation. No worries."

"Well, I hope you're right. Let's go get somethin' to eat, I'm famished."

"Guess they underestimated you guys, huh Burt?" Casey smirked. "I think Shadow was trying to show us this." The survivalist nodded his agreement.

"Great. Now what?" Twitchell asked.

"Well, the only options we have are to wait or continue foreword," Burt pointed out.

Twitchell glanced back they had come. "I choose foreword."

Burt motioned for him to go first. He sighed and took the lead, heading further into the darkness. "Burt, you got another light?"

Burt came up with a small flashlight, handing it to Twitch.

"Wow, Burt, you really are always prepared for anything," Casey commented.

"Well, 'an anti-social paramilitary paranoid's gotta be prepared for anything from dark tunnels to herds of cute, crazed fangirls that really don't exist because he's too much of a rock to attract any, which is a sad, sad, story.'" Twitchell replied cheekily.

"Way to break the fourth wall Twitch. Gunna mention this is a fanfi-"

"Shh!" Casey shushed Burt angrily.

Twitchell grinned. "Hey, Tyler's words, not mine."

Burt rolled his eyes as they continued walking. They walked for nearly 15 minutes before they reached the end of the tunnel.

Casey ran her hand across the wall, and she found a thin crevasse that they would barely be able to fit through. "Guys, look here."

Twitchell turned the flashlight towards the small opening. "An exit?"

"I'm not sure, but we really can't go back the way we came..." Casey said.

"Agents first, I guess," he muttered and stepped through. It was a bit of a squeeze for him but luckily it wasn't very long and he soon stepped out into a wider cavern.

Casey squeezed through the dark gap, though it was easier for her. Burt followed.

"Looks like another cave," Twitchell said.

"Well, let's keep going. We might find a way out," Burt said, continuing to walk.

"We'd better," Twitchell mumbled.

The three of them continued in silence, staying close to the wall so as not to get turned around.

They walked for several minutes before they noticed a faint light ahead of them.

"Think it leads to the lab again?" Twitchell asked.

"Possibly," Burt mumbled, "But it's our best bet." He started towards it.

The other two followed him cautiously and they stopped in front of the much larger crack that lead to the light source.

"You know, we could be walking into a number of things," Twitchell said nervously. "More dragon things, or flying Gila monsters or...something."

"We don't really have much of a choice," Burt said, slipping through the small space.

Around him, a lab bustled with activity.


	11. The Heart of the Plan

The trio froze as they stepped out of the crack, finding themselves in the middle a crowded room of the lab. For a moment none of them moved, expecting one of the scientists to sound the alarm.

Nothing happened however and after another moment they realized they were actually hidden by a large -and rather loud- machine, and they all breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Let's try not to do that again," Twitchell advised.

"Now what?" Burt hissed. "We can't go back the way we came, we won't be able to climb back into the main cave."

"Well...they gotta have a work schedule, right?" Twitchell asked. "We could wait out in the tunnel until they leave."

"That might work," Burt nodded.

"Wait," Casey said, "There is obviously something big going on around here. Maybe we should try and figure out what."

"Couldn't we just look through their files when their gone? Or am I missing something?"

"That would take too long, and it may trip alarms," Burt said.

Twitchell sighed. "Right. Spying it is then."

Burt turned to Casey and Twitchell. "If you want, we will watch in shifts. You two could wait in the cave so if I'm caught, you'll be safe."

"I'll take second shift," Twitchell offered.

Burt nodded, removing his hat and settling down behind the machine in a way that allowed him a good vantage point without being seen. Twitchell followed Casey back into the tunnel where they settled down to wait, hoping they could finally get some answers.

Burt waited, a bit annoyed that everybody seemed to be too intent on their work to talk. He hoped that would change soon. He caught a lucky break when one of the workstations apparently stopped working.

"Hey George! This stupid thing messin' up again!"

"George" walked over toward the guy who had called him over. He typed a few things into the computer, fixing it. "There 'ya go, Brian. You should really get used to this machine if you're gonna be one of the guys working on the Alpha Dragon," he said to the other scientist.

Burt concentrated on the conversation, highly intrigued.

"It's not my fault the damn thing is so touchy," Brian grumbled. "How do you get the damn thing to accept the Graboid heart?"

Burt stifled a gasp of shock at the mention of a graboid.

"You use the Mixmaster to change the genes so it is accepted by the base organism," George explained. "We were successful with putting cow hearts in pigs and lion hearts in cheetahs using that method."

Brian hit a few keys on the machine, watching the screen carefully. "Like this?"

The scientist examined the screen. "Perfect. We'll have the closest thing to a dragon in no time, and Bossman won't have our heads," he said, patting Brian's shoulder.

Brain grinned. "Yeah, now all we need is to get those dang residents out."

Burt narrowed his eyes at the men, his anger flaring up at them.

"No kidding," George laughed. "Whoever comes up with how to do that would get promoted for sure."

"You know I've been thinking about that," Brian said frowning. "Their two main sources of income are the Graboid Tour and the Survival School. If they lost those they would lose a lot of tourists as well."

Burt could hardly restrain the hatred boiling in him for these people at this point.

"Hmmm... that's a good point," George nodded. "I'll pass that on to the Bossman. Shut down the Tour and the School, and force them out from lack of income."

"Easiest and fastest way would probably be to arrange an 'accident'," Brian grinned. "It'll get them out of the way and no one will be the wiser. And maybe that sci-fi freak too. He might be able to take over the tour."

George's nod and slight laugh made Burt's vision turn red. They wanted to hurt  _his_  people, threaten  _his_  town? It took the survivalist every ounce of his self control not to launch himself at those men. He was saved by the loud bell that suddenly went off, echoing around the small room.

"Finally, lunch break!" Brian said in relief. "I think my stomach was starting to eat itself!"

Burt released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He turned towards the crack in the wall, squeezing back through.

"Find out anything?" Twitchell asked.

"I think... these two scientists were discussing ways to get us out of Perfection," Burt growled, anger flaring up inside of him again. "One of them suggested an 'accident' could get rid of Tyler, Larry, and I."

"What sort of 'accident'?" Twitchell demanded, immediately annoyed that someone was trying to make his life harder when he didn't even know the idiots. That and they were after  _his_  people but he wasn't about to admit that.

"That's all they said before they left for lunch. They also mentioned something about... a graboid heart and Alpha Dragon," Burt reported.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"They mentioned something about transplanting a heart," Burt said.

"What kinda heart?" Twitchell asked curling his lip slightly in disgust.

"I can only guess..." Burt trailed off.

Casey shook her head, appalled. "Well, at least Shadow showed us this."

"Yeah, but how do we get out?" Twitchell asked. "Especially if we're gonna warn the others about a possible 'accident'."

"They are out of there now. We could go now," Burt said.

"Lead the way," Twitchell offered, waving his arms towards the crack.

Burt slid through the opening, followed by the others. The lab was eerily empty of people.

Twitchell glanced at the machine Brian had been working on. "What the heck?"

Burt narrowed his eyes at the station. "That's where one of the scientists I told you about was," he growled. "What about it?"

Twitchell just pointed at corner of the screen where a small downloading bar was. And it was titled, 'Graboid Heart Transplant'.

"I knew it," Casey said. "I knew there was a connection between graboids and these Dragons."

"What do you mean, dear Casey!" Twitchell asked in falsetto.

Casey gave him an annoyed look. "Something just told me graboids had something to do with the dragons. I didn't mention it because it didn't make sense, but now it's obvious."

"How so?"

"The graboid heart transplant," Casey said, "The 'Alpha Dragon' Burt mentioned. They need us gone so they can get El Blanco's heart."

"And they apparently have no qualms of killing to get that," Twitchell mumbled. "These guys are sick."

Burt nodded. "Come on, let's get out of this place," he mumbled.


	12. Watch Your Back

The small group wandered around the strangely empty halls of the lab, looking for an exit and, more recently, food. All the flying and walking and rare but occasional ducking into some side room to hide had them all starving.

"The last thing I ate was an MRE back at my bunker- yesterday," Burt grumbled.

"We better not find any of those," Twitchell said only half-irritably, too tired to achieve the rest of it.

Casey took a risk and opened a drawer at a desk. It was sadly empty. "Maybe they aren't allowed to keep food here," she said.

"Which means we'd have to go to their...lunchroom or whatever," Twitchell added. "And who knows how many could be in there."

"Probably too many," Burt grumbled. "Let's just find the way out."

"If there even is one," Twitchell mumbled under his breath.

Burt walked towards a door, opening it slowly and peering out. It led to another dark and long tunnel but this time there was a faint wisp of fresh air. He waved the others over. "I think I found our way out," he said.

"Really?" Twitchell asked eagerly, hurrying over to peer through the door.

Burt nodded, stepping out into the tunnel. Casey followed. "Wow, more stone," she mumbled.

"But with fresh air," Twitchell pointed out, breathing deeply.

"Let's hurry," Casey said, "We don't want to get caught by one of those scientists."

They followed the new tunnel for only 10 minutes this time before they came to the end. There was a ladder hanging down and right above, a hole that led outside.

"Finally!" Twitchell cried, heading for the ladder. "This place is worse than the bunker."

Burt narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything. He just followed Twitchell up, Casey behind him. They came out amidst a group of rocks and fairly close to Casey's lab.

"Something tells me this isn't their main entrance," Twitchell surmised, looking around. "They would've been caught by now if it was."

"Affirmative," Burt said. "I'm surprised I never located this before. It must be an emergency exit of some kind."

"You probably weren't looking for something like this so close," Twitchell replied.

"Especially this close to where I live and work," Casey said, sitting down and resting on a rock.

"Well, on the bright side we can get back faster."

Burt nodded. "Come on," he said.

* * *

They reached the lab in ten minutes, looking just the way it had been when they had been so rudely snatched and yet looking more like a paradise after hours of walking with no food, little water, and only gray walls and weird machines to look at.

"Hey guys!" Tyler shouted at them from the porch of the lab as if they had done nothing more than go for a stroll. "How was the trip?"

Burt looked up at the tour guide sitting outside the lab and frowned at him. "Tyler! What were you thinking, breaking the fourth wall to Twitch? It interfered with the story!"

Tyler widened his eyes, looking as innocent as possible, "I didn't say anything!" he protested.

Burt snorted knowing full well the childish man was lying but decided to leave it and answer his question. "It was informative," he replied with a scowl. "Shadow brought us to the underground lab."

"What'd ya find?"

"A plot for a mass murder," Burt responded, brow furrowed in anger.

"Seriously?" Tyler widened his eyes in alarm.

" _Technically_  it's only 4 murders," Twitchell elaborated.

"Who?"

Casey looked around nervously. "Come on, let's get inside," she said, heading towards the door of the dome-shaped laboratory.

Tyler held the door open and followed them inside. The others greeted them warmly, relieved they were safe.

Burt nodded at the other Perfectionites.

Casey looked around. "Do we have any food around here? I'm starving," she said.

"We still have some of that stew Nancy made for us in the refrigerator," Roger replied.

Casey gratefully took the opportunity to leave the room.

"We found out some information- Shadow took us to the underground lab," Burt said.

"So the lab is still working?" Jodi asked in amazement. "I though they blew it up."

"They obviously didn't blow it up good enough," Burt mumbled. "Some of the scientists were discussing the best way to get us to leave Perfection," he said, finding it hard to tell them all about the plot to have some of them murdered.

"But how could they make us leave?" Tyler asked. "This whole valley's protected by the Department of the Interior, it's not like they could just force us out."

"Yeah and why do they want us to leave anyway?" Jodi added.

Burt cleared his throat uncomfortably. "They need to... get to El Blanco. And they think the best way to get us out is to... eliminate the Graboid Tour and the Survival School." He realized he was pacing a little.

"How would they do that?" Nancy asked, Burt's unusual actions making her nervous.

"By arranging an... accident to get rid of Tyler, Larry and I." The survivalist nearly winced when he saw the color drain from the sci-fi fan's face.

"I don't remember giving anyone permission to sabotage my business and try to kill me," Tyler complained irritably, crossing his arms.

"I can understand killing you and Tyler, but...why do they want to kill Larry?" Jodi asked.

"They think he could possibly take over the tour business," Burt mumbled.

Tyler started a little at that and gave Larry a slightly odd look. He looked unusually shaken.

"The good news is now that we know about it we can stop it," Burt said.

"But how do we know what to protect against?" Tyler asked.

"We have to keep extra vigilant, report anything that seems suspicious, and keep in constant contact," Burt said, finally completely regaining his composure. "None of us can go out alone, because we have no idea what their final plan may be."

"Sounds like a plan."

"What about Shadow?" Twitchell asked.

"Oh, we don't have to worry about him," Tyler replied calmly.

"I just wish he'd give us our cars back," Nancy said.

"Yeah, why did he take those anyway?" Jodi asked.

"Maybe to get us out into the desert," Burt said. "Whatever it is, there was probably a reason."

"He didn't want us to leave," Larry said. "Without our cars, we couldn't."

"Well, we know that now, maybe we can convince him to give 'em back," Tyler suggested.

"Maybe, but I'm not going back to those mountains," Burt grumbled.

"Eh, he'll bring sooner or later," Tyler said, stretching.

Twitchell glanced at him. "What makes you so sure?"

"I think Shadow has an almost direct connection to him," Nancy said. "We were talking about it before you guys came back."

Twitchell turned a raised eyebrow toward her that demanded more explanation.

"You know, like his brain chemistry makes it easier to communicate with him. Shadow could do the same with Larry and Jodi, but it was the strongest with Tyler."

"So he's got some sort of advanced brain like what you see in those wacky science-fiction movies with the overly dramatic scenes of seeing the future or something?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyler demanded.

"No," Nancy said.

"It's more like Sam Beckett being able to see Al Calavicci's hologram in Quantum Leap," Larry said matter-of-factly.

Twitchell just glared at him with a look that showed plainly that he had no idea what the boy was talking about.

"Sam Beckett was a time traveler lost in time," Larry said innocently, "And his friend Al Calavicci appeared to him as a hologram from the future. But Sam was the only one who could see or hear him."

Twitchell just rolled his eyes and turned away. "Whatever. Anyway, I don't live here so I'm going to go home and get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow, call if anything happens."

"I'd watch my back if I were you, Twitch," Burt warned. "You own El Blanco- you're just another road block for these guys."

"True, but the only reason I really have to come out here so often is because of you guys. You leave, I come out less. And if I happened to find a dead Graboid everyone would probably think it just died of old age or something and no one would really notice his heart missing because wild animals would have already started ripping his body apart."

"Ew!" Jodi cured her lip. "Twitchell that's gross."

"That's the truth," Twitchell shrugged.

Burt narrowed his eyes. "Fine! Why don't you just leave right now then!" he shouted. "And don't expect us to leap to your aid when mad scientists are after you," he growled, brow furrowed.

"I won't!" Twitchell snapped back, stomping out the door. The sound of the car gunning its engine and leaving was the only thing heard as the room was filled with awkward silence.

Tyler, who had the misfortune of standing right next to Burt, was standing as still as possible and watching the angry survivalist warily, surprised at the sudden outburst. Burt walked towards the other side of the room where he wouldn't have to watch the DOI agent's retreat, mumbling something under his breath.

Casey walked backed into the main area of the lab. "What happened? I heard yelling."

"Burt got mad," Tyler said simply, the first one brave enough to speak up.

Roger glanced at him before elaborating, speaking for the first time, "Burt was trying to convince Twitch to be careful 'cause those faux scientists might try to come after him too. But he wouldn't listen."

"That arrogant... selfish..." Burt mumbled.

Casey blinked. "Okay, then," she sighed, sitting down.

"Soooooooo," Jodi rocked on her feet, trying to figure out how to rid the air of tension. "What now?"

"We wait to get our cars back," Burt said. "Until then, we just stay here."

"And then tomorrow we carry on like normal so they don't suspect we know anything," Tyler added.

Jodi wasn't sure if she was comforted or creeped out at the way Tyler said that so certainly. She sighed. Well, at least they had a deadline on when the cars would be returned. It was some comfort anyway.


	13. Sandstorm

Just as Tyler had predicted, their cars were 'returned' later that day.

The Perfectionites returned to their normal activities, though no one went anywhere alone. It seemed to be going well.

Until Rosalita and Harlow returned from Bixby.

The day started out relatively normal. Rosalita and Harlow came driving in around 10 o'clock, pulling up in front of the store and getting out. Tyler waved at them cheerfully from his spot on the bench, waiting for his next tour group to finish shopping.

"Hey, Tyler!" Rosalita greeted cheerfully. "Did we miss anything while we were gone?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Tyler shrugged. "Mixmaster creations, crazy scientists tryin' to kill us, falling vehicles, brain chemistry..."

Rosalita gave him a strange look. "You're messing with me," she said, disbelieving.

"No, he's not, he's just explaining it in Tyler Tongue," Jodi replied, coming out of the store. "In other words, it's been hectic. And completely  _not_  usual," she added with a frown at Tyler. He just grinned.

"Sounds interesting," Harlow commented.

"So what  _exactly_  happened?" Rosalita asked, looking perplexed.

"I'll explain inside," Jodi replied, catching the door and holding it open as the tour group filed out and headed across the street.

"I'll leave you to it then," Tyler said, hopping off the porch. "Larry! Let's go!"

Larry practically ran out of the store, obviously bubbling with excitement. "Ya' know, this is the first time I've been on the Graboid Tour since the Plantimal attacked Perfection."

Rosalita just rolled her eyes at the hyper sci-fi fan and followed Jodi into the store. Jodi grabbed them each a cup of coffee before joining them at the counter.

"So what happened?" Harlow asked, genuinely curious now due to Jodi's behavior.

"Quit stalling, Jodi," Rosalita urged.

Jodi sighed again. "Ok. But you're probably going to have a hard time believing me..."

* * *

"And just down there you can see the old Perkins' place that was lost in the flood of '09."

"Larry, what the hell are you talking about? We're in a desert. And it's only 2003."

"Hey, what's that?" a young boy asked, pointing off in the distance.

"I was kidding," Larry said innocently. "And what's what?" he asked, looking where the boy pointed.

"That big dust cloud," he replied.

"Huh?" Tyler glanced away from the road to look. Sure enough, there was a large cloud of dust moving across the desert.

"Is it El Blanco?" Larry asked.

Tyler shook his head. "He only makes a small trail of dust. That looks more like a sandstorm but we don't really have those and it's too low anyway."

Larry's face drained of color again. "Tyler..." he whispered, "Maybe we should turn around..."

Tyler nodded, turning the wheel. "I don't like this," he mumbled.

"What's happening?" a female passenger asked, almost hysterically.

"Nothing to be concerned about, we're just cutting our tour a little short today due to the weather," Tyler replied calmly.

"It's perfectly sunny out!" her boyfriend protested angrily.

"Sandstorms don't need clouds son, just wind."

Larry sunk down in his seat. For the first time in days, he truly had a  _bad_  feeling.

"Larry, get a hold of Burt on the radio. See if he knows what the hell that is," Tyler ordered.

The sci-fi fan pulled out the walkie-talkie. "Burt, this is Larry... over."

"You got me, over," came Burt's voice over the radio.

"There's a... sandstorm out here. You might wanna check this out," Larry said.

"It's gaining on us!" the girl from earlier shrieked.

"What? Sandstorms don't gain," Tyler said, glancing behind him. But she was right. It  _was_  gaining on them, and quickly.

"I'm on my way," Burt's voice came, sounding anxious. "Burt, out."

Tyler glanced back behind him again, and blinked. "Where'd it go?"

Larry twisted around, eyes wide. "I don't know."

"Watch out!" the little boy screamed suddenly, pointing in front of them.

Tyler had only enough time to look forward before the dust cloud slammed into the jeep. Larry didn't have a chance to brace himself, almost slamming his head into the dashboard. The passengers screamed as the jeep was tipped over, landing on its side. The sand continued to swirl around them thickly, trying to suffocate them. Tyler covered his mouth with his shirt and tried to figure a way out but he had no idea how to escape a sandstorm like this. Especially when it followed you with a will of its own.

Larry took off the hat he was wearing, placing it over his face to keep the sand out of his mouth and eyes.

Burt was in his Power Wagon, heading toward where he had last tracked Tyler's jeep. He had Roger with him. Suddenly, they both saw the suspicious looking sandstorm that wasn't moving. "What in the world is that?" Burt growled.

"Must be what Larry was talking about," Roger replied. He frowned, "But why is it just staying in one spot? What does that?"

"Something dangerous," Burt said, driving as close to the phenomenon as he dared.

Roger peered through the flying sand, trying to see inside of it. "The tour jeep's in there!"

"Tyler!" Burt called, thinking quickly. He pulled his shirt up over his nose and ran into bombarding sand towards the spot he too had glimpsed the jeep.

Tyler had managed to get everyone out of the jeep and they had hunkered down next to the bed while he tried to figure out what to do. From the outside the thing had looked fairly large and he didn't want to risk the chance of getting lost.

"I think I heard something!" Larry shouted suddenly.

"Where?"

"I can't tell!"

Tyler looked out into the sand but he couldn't see anything. And listening was pretty much useless with the force of the wind.

"Tyler!" Burt called again. "Larry!" Part of him was relieved when he bumped into the tire of the jeep; another dreaded the fact it was on its side.

Tyler glanced up, frowning in concentration as he listened. He was pretty sure he had heard something that time and pretty close too. He glanced over at Larry for confirmation.

"See?" Larry shouted over the roar of wind.

Burt heard him and ran around to the other side of the jeep. Relief flooded him when he saw them all alive. "C'mon!" he shouted.

Tyler quickly urged the tourists to follow the survivalist, bringing up the rear. Burt stumbled out of the storm. He leaned against his Power Wagon, coughing, as the rest of the group joined him.

"Nice timing, Burt," Tyler said, his voice scratchy from the sand.

"No problem. Is everyone safe?" he asked, looking at the terrified bunch.

"I think so. Luckily we weren't in there very long," Tyler glanced back to the storm. It was still swirling but seemed to be getting smaller by the minute.

"That wasn't like any sandstorm I've ever seen," Burt growled, staring at the slowly dissipating vortex. "They're not too common around here, but I've seen one or two."

"What do you think it was?" Larry asked.

"Whatever it was it wasn't natural," Tyler replied wearily. "It was moving around like it had a mind of its own."

Burt frowned. "We need to get these tourists back to town," he mumbled.

Tyler nodded. As soon as the strange storm disappeared they righted his jeep and headed back, following Burt.


	14. Dirt Dragon

Burt jumped from his vehicle the moment they reached the town, heading into the store. Larry followed him. After seeing the tourists off safely Tyler joined them, plopping down at the counter in annoyance. Burt shook his head, exasperated, and leaned against the wall.

"What happened?" Jodi asked.

"There has been an attempt made on Tyler and Larry's life," Burt reported.

" _And_ my customers," Tyler added angrily. "It's one thing tryin' to get rid of me but I draw the line when they involve the people on my tour."

"They're all okay, though?" Rosalita spoke up, looking worried.

"Yeah," Tyler sighed. "And luckily they all figured it was just a natural sandstorm so no one demanded their money back or anything."

"Still, those scientists sure aren't playing around," Jodi said.

"No kiddin'. They keep that up and even if they don't kill you they could still drive you out of business," Harlow added.

"We have to stand our ground," Burt said, "Keep a closer watch on our surroundings."

"I  _was_ ," Tyler replied. "That thing literally came out of nowhere."

Burt nodded slightly. "We just can't let these people know we are onto their plan or they won't hesitate to kill us."

"I didn't think they were hesitant before," Tyler muttered.

"At least we are the only ones whose lives are currently threatened," Burt told him, casting a glance at Jodi, Rosalita, and Harlow.

Tyler just grunted. "I'm gonna go clean up the jeep," he mumbled and left.

Burt sat down at a table, looking exhausted. "Jodi, could I get a coffee?" he mumbled.

Jodi fixed him a mug and set down on the counter. "So what caused that thing anyway?"

"No idea," Burt said.

"Maybe it's electro-magnetic field, like in that season three episode of Sliders," Larry offered.

"Hmm, that actually kinda sounds possible," Jodi agreed.

Larry beamed.

"How could magnets do a thing like that?" Rosalita asked, confused.

Jodi shrugged. "Beats me."

Burt looked thoughtful for a moment. "Have any of you noticed anything strange? Odd tourists, suspicious happenings?"

"Not that I've seen," Jodi replied. "But I don't really  _watch_  as closely as you and Tyler do."

Rosalita shrugged. "I've only been back here for a little over an hour."

With that, Burt returned to his silent musings.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without incident and the next morning everyone was keeping an even closer eye on everything and everyone. Jodi watched her customers carefully but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Larry sat behind the counter, fiddling around a little with his video camera. He watched the tourists out of the corner of his eye, plagued with guilt that he had to be so suspicious.

"Larry, I think there's a customer towards the back that might need some help," Jodi said, gesturing while she rang up another customer.

Larry nodded, walking towards the back to assist the customer. "How can I help you out?"

The man looked up in first surprise and then relief. "Ah, yes, thank you. Do you guys happen to have any Red Cherry Bug Juice? My daughter's been asking for it for the last two hours," he smiled slightly.

Larry nodded, grabbing some from the refrigerator for the man.

"Of course it would be right in front of me," he replied, laughing. "I tell you sometimes I can be as blind as a bat!"

Larry smiled. "It's no problem," he said.

The man smiled. "You got any kids?"

Larry shook his head slightly, though his eyes flicked to Jodi for a split second.

The man caught it though and grinned. "Yeah. She's pretty cute huh?"

Larry felt his face get hot. "Yeah," he said uncomfortably.

"My name's Ben," he said, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Larry Norvel," he introduced.

"So," Ben glanced over at Jodi. "I take it you two are 'just friends'?"

"Uh huh..." Larry said, a little sadly. "I think I mostly get on her nerves."

Ben laughed. "We all do sonny. But ya wanna know a little secret?"

Larry shrugged. "Sure."

"The more you get on her nerves the more it just proves that she pays attention to you," he smiled. "Which means she's gotta have  _some_  interest in you."

Larry smiled thankfully at the man. "So, you said you have a daughter. Where is she?"

"Oh, probably over questioning the poor tour guide to death. She loves animals and this Graboid just fascinates her."

"I'm not surprised- graboids are very cool," Larry said, smiling.

"That they are," Ben agreed. "And I have to admire the way you guys live out here with him. But don't you run the risk of having all your fragiles broken?" he asked gesturing to Nancy's showcase.

"Sorta," Larry said, but lifted his wrist with the seismo on it, "But we have these, and they vibrate when El Blanco comes near. That way, we have time to prepare for him coming under the store."

"You could try putting Velcro underneath them. Or duct tape. That stuff works for everything. Trust me, I know," Ben made a slight face. "You would not believe what I've used that stuff for."

Larry laughed. "I'll tell Jodi about that, it's a good idea," he said. "Is there anything else I can do to help you?" he asked, kind of hoping to continue the conversation with Ben. Very few people were this nice to the sci-fi fan.

Ben shrugged. "Not really, although...I do have one question."

"Sure," Larry said, "What is it?"

"Well, I don't want to seem to sound like I'm prying but...everyone seems to be really on edge. You guys having some sort of trouble or is it always like this?"

"Yeah, it's like that a lot. With the graboid and everything..." Larry half-lied uncomfortably.

Ben raised an eyebrow slightly but didn't push. "Well, I'm gonna go see if I can save your tour guide," he smiled and nodded to Larry. "Nice talkin' to ya."

"Same here," Larry smiled, waving to him.

Ben's words echoed in Larry's mind as he went and sat down, smiling slightly at Jodi before returning to his video camera.

* * *

Burt drove through the desert. He was with Harlow this time, making his way back to check up on Rosalita's. The survivalist was even more on edge than usual, and it made him feel helpless.

Harlow sighed.

Burt looked at Harlow out of the corner of his eye. "How has Rosalita been taking all of this?" he asked.

"Pretty well for the most part," he smiled. "You know how she is."

Burt nodded. "At least she's taking it better than she did when 4-12 attacked," he mumbled.

"Yeah," Harlow agreed, about to say something else when suddenly the monitor started beeping wildly. "What the-?"

"Don't tell me this thing is on the fritz," Burt grumbled, adjusting some controls beneath the screen. It was in vain, the beeping refusing to stop.

"Hey, what's that?" Harlow pointed to a strange blip on the screen.

Burt stopped the vehicle. "I don't know... But it definitely isn't El Blanco," he growled.

"Yeah, looks too big to be him," Harlow agreed, watching the blip come closer to the truck.

Burt stood up from his seat, peering around the desert surrounding them and trying to get a look at what was heading towards them. But whatever it was was too deep to see from the surface. At first the only sign it was even there was the beeping of the monitor.

Burt, suspicion growing inside him, grabbed one of his large guns out of the back of his Power Wagon. Harlow glanced at him uncertainly. He had a bad feeling that guns weren't going to be of much use here but before he could say anything they suddenly felt something bump the truck.

"...What was that?"

Burt looked over the side of the vehicle, pointing his gun at the ground, prepared for whatever he might see. For a moment nothing happened and Harlow briefly wondered if he had imagined it. Then suddenly the something hit the bottom of the truck again, hard, sending it flying. Both men were thrown from the vehicle, landing several feet from it.

"What the hell was that?" Burt growled, scrambling across the ground to grab his gun, which had landed a few feet from him.

Harlow scrambled to his feet, looking around for the attacker. Suddenly the ground rumbled and something burst out of the ground a few yards from them. Burt raised his gun towards the dark brown dragon with the head and hooked beak of an eagle. Its talon-like front feet looked strong and sharp, perfect for digging through the dirt.

"What the hell?" Harlow stumbled back a bit in surprise. "What is that?"

"Another crack pot creation," Burt growled, aiming his gun at the creature.

"Think it's the 'other dragon' Jodi and them were talking about?"

"I have no idea," Burt responded.

The dragon loomed towards them. It let out a shrill, eagle-cry and moved forward to strike. They couldn't move out of the way fast enough and Harlow braced himself but just before it reached them another large body rammed into the brown dragon. Harlow looked up to see another orange dragon with the head of a goose wrestling the brown.

"Is that-?"

"Shadow!" Burt gasped, lowering his weapon slightly.

The darker dragon screeched again, attempting to claw the goose-dragon. Shadow dodged the claws smoothly and gripped the other dragons' neck with his own, lifting himself into the air. The brown dragon earnestly twisted out of Shadow's grasp, swinging its sharp beak at him.

Harlow stared at the two battling dragons. He felt like he was in one of Larry's science fiction fantasy stories. He glanced at Burt, wondering if they should leave or stay.

Burt looked like he was thinking about running when their seismos buzzed. "Oh, great," he hissed under his breath, seeing the Graboids' dust trail not too far away.


	15. On Your Shoulders Now

Burt narrowed his eyes in anger. A few minutes had passed, and the stupid worm was still near. He couldn't even throw a concussion grenade and run, because his Power Wagon was flipped on its side.

If it was damaged,  _oh_  that dragon would pay...

Suddenly, Shadow shot away, startling all of them. And before they could even comprehend what had happened, he was back, slamming into the dirt dragon and closing his mouth around its neck. The brown dragon shrieked. It twisted, jabbing a sharp-clawed back foot into Shadow's side. Shadow just clamped down harder. The eagle-headed dragon suddenly wrenched itself from its attacker's grasp, diving back under the ground.

Shadow shook himself off and looked over to the two men still standing half in shock and half in habit to keep El Blanco from finding them. Suddenly, the great white Graboids' dust trail veered away after the other dragon.

"Well, there's somethin' you don't see every day," Harlow commented.

"Yeah, and we see an awful lot around here," Burt grumbled, heading towards his Power Wagon.

Harlow looked over to Shadow who was just sitting on the ground, watching them. "He's on our side, right?"

"As far as I can tell," Burt said. "Tyler seems to trust it."

Harlow joined him at the overturned truck. "So how do you plan on getting' this turned back on its feet?"

No sooner than he'd uttered the question, Shadow was suddenly above them, grasping the beloved vehicle in his claws and righting it. He grasped the handle bars and looked at them expectantly.

"That works," Burt said, climbing back into his Power Wagon.

Harlow followed and as soon as he was seated Shadow took off, carrying the truck in its claws.

"I better not find myself back in that cave," Burt growled to himself.

But Shadow was already half way to town. He landed in the middle of the road, setting the truck down gently before landing beside it. For a split second, Burt thought about arguing with the creature, but decided that was just pushing his sanity over the edge.

The strange arrival brought out the other residents.

"Flying Dragon Express now, Burt?" Tyler asked.

"Hey, he saved our lives," Burt said, "I wasn't about to argue with him."

"Was it another sandstorm?" Jodi asked.

"Negative," Burt responded. "It was another dragon, similar to Shadow. But more eagle-like. Our friend here fought him off," he said, motioning towards the orange dragon.

"Nice one, Shadow," Tyler grinned, patting him on the side. "So does that one fly super fast too?"

Burt shook his head. "Can't fly at all. But it can dig as fast as a graboid."

"Wow. Talk about your literal dirt dragons."

Burt nodded. "A little too literal."

* * *

A shadowy, menacing figure sat at one end a dimly lit room, facing away from two scientists. "Dr. Sanders, Dr. Torris, your plan didn't work," he grumbled in a threatening voice.

"They're a lot more resourceful than we thought," Brian replied. "And they seem to have befriended the first dragon."

"Yes, and you are the ones who came up with this  _faulty_  plan," the man growled, turning and leaning across the table. "And our intelligence mission revealed these  _Perfectionites_ -" he snarled the word- "Know more than they should."

"But that's not our fault!" George defended.

"Yes, it is. That's why it's now your job to eradicate every one of those residents, personally. The agent guy and the scientist lady and her friend too, just to be safe."

"And how do you suppose we do that?"Brain snapped irritably. "That survivalist is prepared for anything from Graboids to World War 3."

"Figure it out," the man growled, leaning into the light so shadows were cast down his burn-scarred face.

Brian scoffed, "Whatever. Come on, George, let's get out of here."

The angry scientists turned and stormed out of the room. Brian leaned up against the wall.

"So any ideas how to kill 'em?"

"We might be able to trick the survivalist guy into giving himself up," George grumbled, "If we tell him we'll spare his friends if he does. We would be lying, of course."

"I don't know how well that would work, he could always..." Brian trailed off, staring at the other wall in thought, a small grin spreading across his face.

"What? What is it?"

"Just remembered something from an old TV show I used to watch. The bad guy in it had a plan he always used. Didn't always work but that was just the show making it so the good guys would win," he smiled wickedly.

"Well, what is it, then?" George asked eagerly.

"Gummer's super protective of his friends, right?"

George nodded.

"So, we use one of his friends to lure him into a trap. We blow them up or something. And we'll use the second most capable person as bait. That way all that's left are the weaker ones that'll be easy pickings and we'll get the two strongest ones out of the way in one go," Brian frowned slightly. "Who's the second most capable? Can't be any of the women."

George nodded slowly. "The tour guide, definitely. The rest of them are going to be easy- especially that over-emotional sci-fi geek from what I heard from Ben."

"Right. So now all we need to do is capture him."

"I've got an idea about that," George smirked.


	16. The Kidnapping

Everything went back to normal again for about a week; minus the giant orange dragon with a goose head that hung around of course, but that's beside the point.

Burt and Harlow were patrolling; Nancy and Rosalita were working in Nancy's garden; Jodi and Larry were taking care of customers; Casey and Roger were at the lab; and Tyler was working on his truck, alone since Twitchell -who was there for an update- had gone over to the store to grab some lunch for the both of them.

Two men hid in the shadows of Tyler's metal home, the door open only an inch or so. A small gun barrel peeked out from the building, shooting a small dart into the tour guide's neck.

Tyler started as he felt something prick his neck. He rubbed it with his hand, finding a small dart. He stared at it. This couldn't be good. Especially when that dart was blurrily turning into two. He shook his head in an effort to clear it, not noticing his attackers until they were right behind him.

George smirked at Brian. "Go get your truck," he said.

Tyler turned unsteadily at the voice but the effects of the drug were getting stronger and he could barely resist as the man grabbed him, pulled him out the back door, threw him into the back of a vehicle, and took off. As he slowly drifted off into unconsciousness Tyler couldn't help but feel that today was going to be a  _really_  bad day.

* * *

Larry sat in the store, kind of bored out of his mind, slowly sipping on a Grabachino. It occurred to him that he probably would never be able to calm down if he finished it, but still drank it.

"Bored, Larry?" Twitchell asked, sitting next to him and waiting for Jodi to finish cooking after she had insisted to make them a hot lunch.

Larry nodded. "I can't even check on the Invisibat."

"Here you go, Twitchell," Jodi handed him two plates of burgers and fries. "And  _please_  try not to break them this time," she added, fixing him with a stern glare.

"Hey, I said I was sorry," Twitchell grumbled, heading out across the street.

"Food's here," he called as he entered the garage. "Tyler?"

The young tour guide was nowhere to be seen. Twitchell set the plates down and moved over to the jeep. The hood was still open and his tools were still lying out so he couldn't have gone far.

"Tyler! Where are you?"

* * *

Burt pulled into town as Twitch was searching the garage. He got out of his Power Wagon, raising an eyebrow at the confused agent. "Twitchell, what's wrong?"

"Tyler's missing!"

"What!" Burt said, eyes flashing. "Did you leave him alone?"

"Just long enough to get lunch for the both of us," Twitchell replied. "I was barely gone for 10 minutes!"

"Apparently that was long enough!"

"It's not my fault!" Twitchell snapped. "How was I supposed to know they wanted Tyler?"

"Common sense?" Burt offered angrily, getting back into his vehicle. "Now I have to go find him," he growled, turning to Harlow. "You should leave, this could be dangerous."

"Hey, he's my friend too," Harlow replied adamantly.

"Wait," Twitchell reached into his pocket and pulled out a small dart. "I found this on the ground."

"Fine, you can come too," Burt said to Harlow. He then turned to Twitchell, taking the dart. He shook his head. "This isn't good. He'll be out cold by now."

"Think they'd take him to the lab?" Harlow asked.

"Even if they are," Burt said, "There is no way they can be there by now."

"Guess it's one of those times Tyler's racing skills would be in handy," Harlow muttered.

"No kidding," Burt grumbled, starting up the Power Wagon again and speeding off in the direction of some tire tracks.

After driving full speed for nearly 15 minutes, Harlow spotted something a ways ahead of them. "I bet that's them!" he shouted as he made out the small truck traveling way too fast to be innocent tourists.

Burt nodded tensely, following the speeding truck.

Brian glanced at the side view mirror. "Dang it! They're already after us. Drive faster!"

George grumbled something, flooring the gas pedal and speeding up.

"They spotted us," Harlow growled.

Burt sped up as much as he could, keeping on their trail.

Brian pulled a small device from his pocket. He waited until they had gotten close to their secret entrance, which was also surrounded by several paths up into the mountains accessible by vehicles, before pressing the button on it. The sand behind them exploded, blinding their pursuers, and allowing them to slip through the secret entrance unnoticed.

"For the love of Pete!" Burt shouted, slamming on the brakes. The sand swirled around them from explosion, obscuring their vision.

Harlow looked around as the air cleared. "Where'd they go?"

Burt slammed his fist against the steering wheel. "I don't know!"

Harlow gave Burt a few moments to calm down before saying any more. "We should head back."

"We can't," Burt said, "Tyler is in danger. They could kill him right now for all we know."

"If they were going to kill him they would have done it at the garage," Harlow replied. "I don't think that's what they want, not now anyway."

Burt ran his hand over his face. "Fine. I'll bring you back to town," he grumbled, turning around.

"And you're gonna stay too," Harlow replied shortly, knowing he wasn't really getting through to the other man. "It'll be useless driving all over the valley looking for them. They most likely won't leave Tyler at the lab, they'll be paranoid enough to think we know where it is. Besides, I have a feeling they'll contact us."

Burt just grumbled something under his breath and continued driving, not looking at the man.

The others were standing outside the store when they returned.

"Did you find him?" Jodi asked worriedly.

Burt shook his head slowly, looking angry at himself.

"They got away," Harlow replied. "Set off an explosion to slow us up."

"What about Tyler?" Larry asked worriedly.

"Still got him."

"What if they kill him?" the sci-fi fan asked.

"But if they were going to kill him, wouldn't they have done it in the garage?" Jodi asked.

"We think they may contact us," Burt mumbled.

"So what now?" Twitchell asked.

"Well, thanks to you, we have to wait," Burt said dryly to Twitch.

Twitchell frowned. "How is this  _my_  fault?"

"You left him alone, and he gets kidnapped in the amount of time you were gone!" Burt growled. "You knew there were people after us."

"Well, I'm sorry!" Twitchell snapped. "I just thought he would've had more brains than that to keep from getting captured!"

"Twitchell!" Jodi stared at him in a mix of anger and surprise.

"And I thought you would have had more brains than to just leave him alone with all this going on!" Burt countered.

"Burt!" Jodi said, turned to him, getting exasperated.

Twitchell opened his mouth to say something but before he could he was suddenly faced with a giant goose head. Shadow honked, loudly and angrily, right in his face. He covered his ears although it didn't really help much.

"I guess someone agrees with me," Burt smirked.

Twitchell glowered at him in annoyance but didn't say anything else.

"Well, if you are done arguing pointlessly," Jodi grumbled, heading back into the store.

Larry's eyes flicked between the two glaring man a few times. He turned around, rushing after Jodi.

Harlow sighed and followed them. He really hoped they found Tyler soon. An angry Burt wasn't exactly something he enjoyed seeing. Add in an angry Twitchell, and it would be a  _long_  day.


	17. Rescue...Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm copying these from our ff.net account, and on this chapter, my AN at the beginning is, "O_O Tyler...DON'T GO INTO THE WATER! IT'S WORMY OUT THERE!" I was so confused for a moment, wondering what the hell I'd been on, but then I remembered. I had some dream where Rumpy and I were....doing something. And one of my papers flew out the window to the ground below, where it was all muddy and full of earthworms. I think I did something weird and dramatic after that....I can't remember....this was like, over a year ago.....but wow.....memories.

George paced around in the cave. Tyler was still unconscious, tied to a chair. "How do we know when to leave?" the scientist asked his partner-in-crime. "How do we even know the survivalist will find this place?"

"He'll be here, George," Brian replied wearily. "The dragon they call 'Shadow' will be drawn to Reed, Burt will follow. And we have look outs posted outside to let us know when they're coming. So stop pacing and just relax would you? You're giving me a headache."

The man forced himself to stop the incessant walking, leaning against the wall. "Should we leave now or what?" he asked nervously.

"Not, until, they call us."

* * *

"What on earth is going on with Shadow?" Jodi asked, watching the restless dragon pass over the store for the umpteenth time. "He's acting almost as if he's lost or something."

"Maybe he knows where Tyler is," Larry offered quickly.

"I don't know," Jodi replied. "He doesn't look like he knows where to go. He might  _sense_  Tyler though but just can't tell exactly where he's at."

Burt stood against the wall of the store, out on its patio, watching Shadow flying back and forth. "Give me something to go on, dragon," he mumbled under his breath.  
Nancy walked over to the store, quickly followed by Rosalita. They decided not to break Burt from his thoughts, and just entered Changs'. "Harlow told us what happened," Nancy said to Jodi.

"Yeah," Jodi glanced outside again. "Don't suppose you guys saw anything?"

Nancy shook her head and Rosalita just shrugged.

"Figures," Jodi mumbled.

"What's Burt going to do?" Rosalita asked.

"Right now there's really not much to do other than wait," Jodi replied, shrugging. "Although I think he's waiting to see if Shadow picks up on him."

"I'm surprised Burt has put so much trust in him," Nancy said, looking out the window at the nervous-looking dragongoose.

"I think it's more he trusts Tyler and Tyler has so much trust in him," Jodi said. "Tyler seems to be pretty good at judging people."

"Or dragons, in this case," Larry added.

Jodi nodded. Suddenly they heard Shadow honking urgently. The small group ran outside, wondering what was going on.

"Burt? What's going on?" Jodi asked.

"Shadow," Burt said. He began towards his Power Wagon. "I think he figured out where Tyler is."

Shadow honked again, passing low over the group before gaining height again, turning in circles as if waiting. Burt jumped into the Power Wagon, starting the engine, and immediately Shadow flew off towards western mountains.

Burt sped off after the dragon as fast as possible, leaving behind a dust trail.

* * *

"You sure it's him?" Brian asked.

"Yes sir," the radio cackled. "They should be there within five minutes."

"Ok," Brian turned to George. " _Now_  we can go."

* * *

Burt was following the speeding dragon, and was itching to find where ever it was heading. Shadow finally came to a stop next to a large cliff. Halfway up was a small cave. The dragon tried to enter but the entrance was too small. He pulled back and looked down at Burt, honking urgently.

Burt got out of his vehicle, looking up and throwing out his arms. "How do you expect me to get up there?"

Shadow swooped down, picked him up, and then set him down at the mouth of the cave in the span of about two seconds. Burt stumbled a little, surprised by the sudden action. He quickly righted himself though, peering around the cave. At the back was a chair with a very familiar figure tied to it.

"Tyler!" Burt called, beginning to run towards the man.

Tyler was still unconscious, sitting limply in the chair and the only thing keeping him upright was the rope around his chest. Burt pulled out a pocket knife from his pocket, ready to cut the ropes around his friend.

He got no further than the first fiber before a voice cried out from behind him. "Don't touch him!"

Burt spun around, instantly going for his Eagle.

The man paused, raising his hands in a show of peace. "I don't mean to harm you. But that rope is wired to a bomb. You cut it and this whole cliff face turns into a pile of rubble."

Burt narrowed his eyes at the man. "And why should I believe you?" he growled. He looked the man up and down, taking in his lab coat. "You're one of the scientists!"

"Yeah, I know," the scientist sighed. "And I've always been proud to be one too. But this is just too far. Killing innocent people just to get what we want," he glanced at Burt. "I'm not asking you to trust me or anything, just believe me when I say you can't free your friend."

"I have to get him out of here," Burt growled. "How do you suggest I do so?"

"You can't," he pointed to the rope leading from the chair to the wall of the cave. "The bomb itself is hidden behind the wall. Even stepping on the rope could set it off."

"I can't leave him here," Burt snarled, "But of course that's what you'd suggest."

"I'm sorry, but there's no other way! If there were I'd tell you, believe me!" He was answered with a loud angry honk from Shadow outside.

Burt turned his attention to the dragon outside the cave. Shadow was clinging to the cliff with his claws, peering into the cave and glaring at the scientist.

"Unless you want that dragon to kill you," Burt said, "I suggest you help me get Tyler out. There has to be some way."

The scientist looked at him nervously. "I'm sure there is some way to disable the bomb, but I don't really know anything about bombs. That's Georges' specialty."

Burt smirked slightly. "If I know one thing, it's explosives."

"It's not like most bombs, he has his own design."

"Do you have a better option?" Burt growled.

The scientist opened his mouth but nothing came out and after a moment he closed it again.

"You must at least know how to  _get_  to this bomb without setting it off."

"Umm," he hurried to the back of the cave. "I know it's stationed in a small hole within the wall. But I'm not really sure how to get to it."

"They had to get it in there somehow..." Burt mumbled to himself. He touched his hand to the stone the rope entered into. It was wet and thick like mud, or...

"Wet cement," Burt said suddenly.

"Huh?" the scientist leaned closer. "But they applied it early this morning."

"It's cool and dark in here," Burt said, "Not much to dry it out. If we are careful, we may be able to pull out the bomb."

"What bomb?" A weary voice interrupted them.

Burt looked over his shoulder, surprised. The drug had apparently worn off and Tyler was slowly but surely regaining consciousness.

"Tyler," Burt said calmly, "Please don't panic- don't move. You have to be very, very still," he urged.

Tyler just gave him an odd look, wondering why Burt was talking to him like he was a scared child but still too groggy from the drug to really complain about it. Burt began to dig out as much of the wet cement as possible so he could pull out bomb, thankful he had his leather gloves so he wouldn't get any of the cement on his skin.  
He soon came across a small metal box connected to the rope. He eased the box out of the wall, placing it on the floor in front of them.

"Careful," the scientist cautioned nervously. "One bad move and Tyler will explode into a million tiny pieces while we're buried under tons of rubble."

"Wait, what?" Tyler turned his head, much more awake. He took in the strange man in the lab coat. "Who the hell are you?"

"The ropes are wired to this bomb," Burt said. "Don't move."

Tyler frowned. "Would  _someone_  please explain what the hell is going on? And why I'm tied to a chair? And who's the whitecoat?"

"My name's Ben," the scientist replied. "And right now you're strapped to a bomb through those ropes."

"Yeah, I got that," Tyler replied, narrowing his eyes. "Why?"

Ben hesitated for a moment and then took a deep breath. "So we could lure Burt here and kill both of you with the bomb when he tried to cut the ropes so we would be free to get rid of the others and carry on with our plan," he said quickly.

"But he warned me," Burt added, motioning towards Ben. "Now I need to deactivate it."

"Why am I the bait?" Tyler complained, going ignored as Ben nervously peered over Burts' shoulder.

Burt began slowly removing a side from the bomb, revealing intricate wiring.

"Do you know which wire to cut?" Ben asked nervously.

"Of course he does. He's Burt," Tyler glanced at the survivalist. "Right?"

Burt narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. "I think I can tell... I've seen this design before..."

"Really?" Ben's eyes lit up.

"Where?" Tyler asked.

"As a kid," Burt said, sounding rather surprised by the fact. "If I'm correct..." he placed his knife against a blue wire, hesitated and wiped sweat off of his forehead, then braced himself as he cut through the wire...


	18. Hostage or Not?

The survivalist's heart skipped a beat as he pressed the knife through the wire.

Nothing happened.

"...Well, I haven't exploded into a million pieces," Tyler commented dryly with a pointed look at Ben. "So...did it work? Or was it one of those trick wires?"

"I think any other wire would have set it off," Burt said, but looked to Ben for confirmation.

Ben just shrugged. "Like I said, I don't really know anything about bombs, just that George's are different than normal ones."

"Well, normal ones usually have one wire that shuts it off, one that makes it go boom, and the rest don't really do anything. So if his are  _not_  normal that would mean he  _doesn't_  have extra wires," Tyler said. "Maybe."

"Then we should just trust I did it right," Burt said, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.

Tyler still caught it though. "Oddly enough, that doesn't make me feel better. Ain't there a timer on that thing or something?"

"It's not that kind of bomb," Burt said, "It was rigged to go off when I cut the ropes tying you to the chair."

"I hate those kinds."

"It probably worked," Ben said. "But really the only way to know for sure is to cut the rope."

Burt nodded, stepping over to the chair and preparing to cut the rope.

"Just a forewarning," Tyler said. "But if this doesn't work, I'm gonna haunt you for all of eternity."

"You can't haunt a dead person," Burt argued.

"I'll figure it out," Tyler replied as the knife sliced through the rope.

* * *

"Do you think they found Tyler?" Jodi asked from her vigilant spot next to the window.

"He has to have by now," Larry said, looking worried.

"They'll be fine," Harlow reassured them. "This Burt and Tyler you're talking about, they've survived worse."

Nancy nodded tensely, but still looked troubled. Their worried silence was suddenly interrupted by faint honk. Jodi looked out the window in surprise.

"It's Shadow!"

"What about Burt?" Rosalita asked. "Is he following him?"

"I can't tell yet," Jodi replied. "Too far away."

Larry peered out into the distance, straining to see the barely visible dragon.

"Hey, I think I see some dust," Harlow said. "Looks like he's over the next hill. He'll probably be here soon."

Nancy let out a breath of relief. Hopefully, Tyler would be with him.

It took a little over five minutes before Burt pulled up in front of the store. Jodi followed the others out, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw Tyler sitting in the front passenger seat.

"Hey, who's that in the back?" Harlow asked, taking in the man in the white lab coat.

"It's a whitecoat," Rosalita said, disgust tainting her voice.

"Wait," Jodi frowned. "Larry, isn't he that customer from the other day?"

Larry's eyes widened. "Ben?"

"Hey, Larry," Ben said, waving nervously.

Tyler glanced between them. "You know each other?"

"I... helped him the other day, in the store," Larry said. "We talked for a few minutes. He- he said he went on the Graboid tour."

Tyler looked back at Ben and frowned. Ben gave a nervous chuckle. "Uh, yeah...sorry."

"What, is he like, your hostage or something?" Rosalita asked, narrowing her eyes at Ben.

"Actually, he saved us," Tyler replied, hopping out of the truck. "Otherwise the last you would've heard from us was a big boom."

"Why?" Nancy asked.

"Bomb," Tyler jerked his head back at Ben. "Luckily Whitecoat here decided to have a conscience and warn Burt though."

"At least you're all safe now," Nancy said. "Let's get inside."

"You sure he's trustworthy?" Jodi asked as soon as they had all sat down.

Tyler shrugged. "Shadow hasn't eaten him yet."

"And he did risk being blown to rubble to stop me," Burt added.

"True," Jodi raised an eyebrow at Ben. "But why?"

"I couldn't let them go through with their plan," Ben said, looking at the floor. "There was just too many innocent people."

"Never seemed to be a problem before," Tyler commented dryly.

Ben sighed. "Look, I may be one of the rogue scientists and I may be proud of my work; but I'm not heartless. I couldn't let them kill you guys just for a stupid worm."

"Who knew," Rosalita said, "Crazy scientists  _can_  have a conscience."

"So now what?" Tyler asked.

"We have no choice but to fight back," Burt growled.

"How?" Jodi asked. "We still don't even know  _why_  they want El Blanco."

Everyone simultaneously turned to Ben expectantly.

He stared back at them. "Uh...sorry...guys. I work with plants. I don't really know why they want your worm, just that they need his heart for something. The only real involvement I have in it is spying."

"So you don't know anything about the... 'Alpha Dragon'," Burt offered, remembering something mentioned by the scientists back in the lab.

Ben frowned. "That...sounds familiar. But I don't know anything about it. Probably just heard it from one of the other scientists."

"Anyway," Burt said, "Our main priority is to stay alive."

"How?" Harlow nodded towards Tyler. "Even after we upped our watch they still managed to kidnap Tyler and attack his tour. It's like they know how we're going to respond and then slip through the cracks."

"Too bad Mr. Whitecoat here wasn't actually important to these guys," Rosalita shrugged, "Or we really could use him as a hostage."

"Hey!"

"Eh, they probably wouldn't even care," Tyler said. "They're too...white."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jodi asked.

"Well, you know...they wear white coats. All the mad, crazy scientists you see in movies wear white lab coats. So do they. They're white."

"Somehow, that makes a crazy kind of sense," Nancy mumbled, shaking her head.

"Pay attention, Tyler," Burt urged with narrow eyes.

"What?"

"Focus on keeping us alive," Burt said.

"I am! I was just explaining why-"

"What about the lab?" Jodi interrupted, turning to Burt. "You could sneak in and just blow up the place."

Burt leaned against the counter, his back to the others, and it was easy to tell he was deep in thought. Then he shook his head. "They may be after us, but there are bound to be innocent people in that lab. We can't sink to that level."

"We could lure them out," Harlow suggested. "Although it would probably be hard to get everyone."

"You don't have to," Ben spoke up. "The lab is divided into sections. And everyone in a certain section only works on one thing. So if you just lure out everyone in the Alpha Dragon section you can blow up that part of the lab and everyone else will be fine."

"You're familiar with how that place works," Burt said. "Any ideas on how to get them out of there?"

Ben shrugged. "The only thing I can think of is to lure out with the idea that you guys are trying to do something that could ruin their plan. If it's big enough you might get them all out. There're only about thirteen people working in that section."

"It has to be something big..." Burt pondered.

Ben smiled. "I  _think_  I might have an idea."


	19. And the Lab Went Boom!

"Let's go over the plan one more time," Burt said.

"Ben's gonna go in shoutin' that we found out their plan an we're gettin' ready to destroy it in some secret attack, they're all gonna come runnin' out to stop us while Larry stands by with the catcher thingy and I lead them to the trap. As bait. Again," Tyler furrowed his brow in annoyance.

"It's not like we had a choice, you're the fastest of all of us," Jodi said.

Burt nodded, ignoring Tyler's complaints.

"We sure this is gonna work?" Harlow asked. "Seems kinda... far-fetched."

"Aren't all our plans?" Larry responded.

"True."

"So when do we start?" Jodi asked.

Burt looked at his watch. "Ben should be back any minute with the supplies. We'll head out then. I want the rest of you to stay here at Changs' until we get back."

"Don't we always?" Jodi sighed. "I just hope this works. And that Ben doesn't double cross us."

"Oh I don't know. He's seems like a nice guy," Tyler shrugged.

"I think he seems genuine," Burt nodded. "He's our only hope at the moment."

Ben's truck pulled in at that moment. He hurried toward them. "I got the stuff. We ready?"

Burt nodded. "Tyler, Larry, let's go."

"Good Luck," Jodi waved as the men climbed into Ben's truck and headed off.

"What happens if this doesn't work?" Larry asked, trying not to sound nervous.

"We die," Tyler said simply.

Larry went silent, looking shocked.

Ben leaned over Burt's shoulder. "Your partner is very strange; joking and such in one moment, unnerved in another, and complaining in yet another. Does he ever stick to just one way of dealing with things?"

"He's not always like this," Burt shrugged. "He seems to act the way the situation demands it."

"What situation demands complaining?"

"Very strange situations."

"And Burt situations," Tyler added, grinning when Ben gave him a startled look, not realizing he'd heard the conversation.

"Yes, well..." Burt grumbled, looking back at the road.

* * *

"BRIIAAAN!"

Brian looked up in surprise as a disheveled Ben came rushing into the room.

"Ben, what's wrong?"

"They found out about you're plan," Ben said breathlessly. "And they figured out a way to stop it."

Brian's eyes widened. "How?"

Ben opened his mouth to explain but another scientist interrupted him.

"Did they figure out about the big Z?" he asked fearfully.

"What? That's impossible, there's no way they could have found out big Z!" another snapped.

"They found out about the plan, didn't they? And they've always been good at getting information."

"Yeah, but..."

Ben just stood there, listening to them talk amongst themselves. He had no idea what 'big Z' was, but they seemed to be afraid of it. Or at least afraid of people finding out about it. On the bright side, they seemed to doing his work for him. Which was fine with him since he hadn't been able to think up of a really good excuse yet.

"Enough!" Brain ordered, stopping the nervous speed-talking. "Thanks to Ben we have been forewarned, we can still stop them from carrying out their plan. You know what job you've been assigned. So hurry up and get to it. The faster we move the surer we'll stop them."

The scientists quickly set down whatever they were working on and hurried out the door. Ben hurried after them, completely lost on their actions.

"Ben," Brian pulled him to the side. "I need to find George and alert him of the situation. Do you know where they plan to carry out their plan?"

After a moment of hesitating, Ben nodded. This might work better than he'd anticipated.

"Good. Wait outside for the others and then show them the way. We'll catch up with you."

* * *

Tyler hid behind the large, gray rock, barely ten feet from the people who wouldn't hesitate to end his life. They were all scrambling out into the open. He was ready to bolt at any moment and lead them to the Maze, but he had to wait for Ben's signal.

Once all the scientists were collected outside, Tyler tensed himself. The second Ben signaled, he stepped out from behind the rock just long enough get their attention, then took off running towards the Maze.

He heard shouting and pounding feet behind him. Tyler was the fastest of everyone in town- both on foot and in a car- but he still feared that someone would catch up with him. He wound through paths and ledges, eventually coming to the box canyon he was set on. He didn't even slow down before leaping up the stone wall, climbing the rock.

He paused at the top, looking back at the whitecoats. They were about a yard behind and chasing him like mad men. It was a little disturbing.

He waited until they were all in the canyon before jumping down the other side just as a loud blast sounded through the air. Larry watched from safety as rocks fell in front of the only exit of the Box Canyon. A few moments later, it was echoed by a slightly farther-off explosion. Burt had just bombed the lab.

The scientists stumbled away from the falling rock in surprise.

"What the hell?" Brian yelled.

Larry pulled out his walkie talkie. "Larry to Burt. We're all good here."

"Good. The lab's little more than rubble now over here," came Burt. "Is Tyler okay? Over."

"I'm here," Tyler replied through the radio. "Looks like it worked."

"And Ben?" Burt asked.

"Outside the lab where Tyler left me," Ben reported.

"Okay," Burt said. "Let's meet back at the truck and get out of here."

"Kay, on our way."

Burt quickly made his way to the hidden truck before any of the others and waited silently for them. He never suspected anything was wrong until he felt a gun press up against his back.


	20. Another Ally

Tyler and Larry were still threading their way through the Maze when they met up with Ben. He was panting as if he'd been running a marathon.

"Wasn't your location on the other side of the truck?" Tyler asked, confused. "What are you doing over here?"

Larry looked the disheveled man over. "What happened? Where's Burt?" he asked.

"I got there...shortly…..after he did...There were some strange men...behind him...I...tried to warn him…but it was….too late...and….too many for me to...try...and fight," Ben managed to reply in-between gasping breaths.

"He's been kidnapped?" Tyler stared at him in disbelief.

"We gotta go save him!" Larry said, wide-eyed. "They won't be happy that he blew up the lab," he added very nervously.

"But I thought everyone after us was in the lab," Tyler protested. "And now in the canyon. Who were these people?"

Ben shook his head. "I don't know. I've never seen them before."

"Did you see where they went?"

"It looked like they were headed towards the East Mountains," Ben replied.

"Did they take the truck?" Larry asked. "We could follow them in it."

"They were traveling in a black van," Ben said. "But how could we take the truck? Burt has the keys."

"I can hot-wire it," Tyler said matter-of-factly. "Let's go."

They raced back to the truck. While Tyler worked on getting it running, Ben and Larry inspected the tire tracks of the kidnappers.

"Looks like they were headed straight for the path that leads to Cletus's valley," Larry commented.

"Who's Cletus?" Ben asked.

"Our local biochemist," Tyler replied as the truck roared to life. "Let's go."

"You have a local biochemist?" Ben asked, confused.

"He worked in the original lab," Larry said. "But that doesn't matter right now."

"It might," Tyler replied. "There's no other reason to go to that valley, they might've found out about him."

"So Cletus could be in danger, too?" Larry asked.

"Maybe."

* * *

Burt sat in the back of the truck, his arms tied too tightly behind his back. He looked out the window, cursing to himself. The brown dragon was back, pacing back and forth in front of the driving cars. He  _hated_  these stupid dragons.

The dragon suddenly froze, mid-step. The cars, as if on cue, pulled to a halt when the dragon lifted its head. It looked around franticly, obviously sensing something. Almost a split second later a large flash of darkness flashed above the group, quickly followed by a blur of orange as the brown dragon was suddenly knocked to the ground.

The darker colored dragon let out a shrill cry. It looked into the goose-like face of Shadow, and attempted to knock him off. Shadow jumped away nimbly and swept his tail towards the dirt dragon.

The eagledragon stood up quickly, slamming one of the talons on its front feet down on the orange-feathered tail. It yanked the dragongoose towards it. Shadow roared angrily and shot for the neck again as he had last time. The dirt dragon collapsed underneath the weight of Shadow.

For a moment all was still and then Shadow suddenly backed off, letting the other dragon get to its feet. It looked almost suspiciously at the dragongoose, taking a weary step back. You could almost see the wheels turning in its mind, trying to comprehend the situation. Shadow looked back intensely.

The brown dragon tilted its head questioningly. All the cars were silent, and Burt could tell everyone was focused on the dragons' strange behavior. Finally after several more minutes of silent staring and a few grunts here and there, the two dragons seemed to come to some sort of agreement.

The darker dragon swept its tail towards the car Burt was in with a pointed look at Shadow. Shadow nodded.

Burt looked shocked as the brown dragon turned swiftly towards the vehicle he was in. The eagledragon dug a talon into the door of the car, peeling back like a tin can. Burt shouted, shuffling back to the other side. The other passengers shouted in fear, one of them pulling out a gun, as the car was ripped open.

The dragon swiped out its tail and knocked some of them over. It reached into the car and pulled out the cursing Burt, careful not the harm him. Through it all Shadow simply sat and watched, looking almost proud as he gave a bored sweep of his tail and knocked over a few more humans from another car.

The brown dragon placed Burt near Shadow, swiping with its sharp claws at more people before digging away. Shadow quickly picked up the startled and slightly confused survivalist and took off; heading back the way they had came.

Burt gritted his teeth angrily as the wind surged against his face. He reminded himself never to voluntarily fly  _ever_  again.

* * *

"I can't see their tracks anymore," Tyler complained as he glanced out the window to the rocky ground below. "Just our luck they'd go over the only stretch of hard ground for miles."

Larry looked down, a worried expression on his face. He was surprised when a blip appeared on the seismo-monitor, bigger than E.B., coming towards them. Tyler glared at it.

"You have  _got_  to be kidding me," he grumbled.

Larry looked around at the ground nervously. "What do you think it is?" he asked, and he blinked in surprise when an all-too-familiar shadow flashed over them.

"Well, I'm pretty sure  _that_  was Shadow," Tyler mused, watching the orange dragon land a ways behind him.

"Looks like he's got Burt too," Ben said.

Larry turned around in his seat. "At least he's safe," he said.

Near Shadow, the brown dragon surfaced, shaking dirt from its feathers and scales. Ben tensed, eyeing it warily. The dragon paced behind Shadow, as if not knowing what to do with itself.

"You ok, Burt?" Tyler asked, watching the nervous dragon curiously.

"Fine," Burt grunted, giving the dragons an irritated glance. "Let's get back to town before anything else can go wrong."

Tyler waited until the older man had climbed onto the back of the truck and then sped off, the dragons following.

* * *

Jodi looked up when she heard the jeep pull up in front of the store. She hurried out.

Burt jumped out of the jeep, walking towards the store.

"Is everything alright?" Jodi asked.

"We successfully destroyed the lab," Burt said, "But I was captured. Luckily, the dragons rescued me." He rolled his eyes.

"And...what about that one?" Jodi glanced at the dirt dragon that had popped up behind the truck.

Burt shook his head. "Don't even get me started."

"Don't worry, she's cool," Tyler assured, hopping out of the jeep.

"It's a 'she'?" Larry asked curiously, walking up to them. "Does it talk to you, like Shadow?"

"Well, not exactly. I overheard them talking to each other when they were rescuing Burt. Shadow convinced her to join us."

"Cool," Jodi smiled happily. "One more against the whitecoats."

"Do you have any idea how strange that sentence was?" Burt asked, shaking his head at Tyler.

Tyler looked at him innocently. "What?"

"Never mind," he mumbled.

"Well, you're not gonna stop thinkin' about it, so why can't I ask?"

"You overheard a 'discussion'... between two dragons... probably more than a mile away..." Burt explained.

"Well, it's not like I can help it!" Tyler complained.

"I wasn't saying you could."

"Then stop complainin'," Tyler crossed his arms. "Besides, you're just jealous the voices only talk to me."

Burt just rolled his eyes while Larry let out a small laugh.

Jodi smiled. "Tyler, I don't think any of us really wanna even k _now_  what those voices are saying."

"Well," Ben looked at Tyler uncertainly. "I have to admit I'm a  _littl_ e curious."

"I wouldn't mind knowing, either," Larry smiled.

"Ok, now y'all are just pokin' fun," Tyler grumbled.

"Yes, we are," Burt said, matter-of-factly.

"You make it too easy, Tyler," Jodi smirked.

Tyler just made a face.

Burt looked around, a bit apprehensively. "Well, let's get inside. You never know when something is going to happen around here."


	21. Departure

It wasn't often you get the feeling of it being 'quiet, too quiet' in Perfection. It was rarely ever 'quiet' enough. But, for a week, absolutely nothing happened. No kidnappings, no bombings, nothing. The only thing that reminded the town's residents that anything had happened was Ben and the two dragons that mostly stayed out of sight.

Larry shook his head at how weird it was. Hopefully, Burt and Ben would get back soon and explain the lack of activity.

"Hey," Tyler came up beside him. "So, think of a name for the little missy?"

"Well, since she's part dragon and part eagle, that would make her an eagon," Larry said, as if he put serious thought into it.

Tyler rolled his eyes, "I meant a  _name_  name Larry, not a  _species_  name. I kinda like Spotlight. If fits, the way the sunlight sort of is attracted to her scales sometimes."

"That's cool too," Larry said with a shrug. "Hey! Shadow and Spotlight- has a ring to it."

"Yyyyep."

Nancy leaned over to Jodi as they watched the two. "Notice how the writers are attempting to keep the readers' attention before they wrap up the plot," she whispered.

"Yeah, I know," Jodi murmured back. "And out of the smallest little things too."

"Hey, Burt 'n' Ben are back!" Tyler said.

Larry stood up, heading out the door as the two men pulled up in the Power Wagon.

"Did you find anything?" Jodi asked.

Burt shook his head, exiting the truck. "Negative. The lab is completely empty. There isn't even any tire marks to suggest anyone came or went."

"So first the guys in the canyon, and now the guys in the lab," Tyler shook his head. "Where did they all go?"

Ben shrugged. "Where ever they are, I don't think they'll come back. 'Least, not for you anyway..."

"What do you mean, Ben?" Larry asked.

Ben didn't answer.

"Ben?" Jodi stared at him nervously.

"He's leavin'," Tyler said quietly.

Larry looked from Tyler to Ben, a bit wide eyed. "What? Why?" he asked, surprised.

Ben sighed. "I don't have a choice, Larry. Think about it; I've worked in that lab for awhile, I know a lot of their plans and creations; things that would get them in huge trouble if the government found out. They'll be after me. And my family too," he smiled slightly. "That's one thing I didn't lie about; I do have a daughter, and a wife. Of course I haven't seen them in nearly a year, but they'll still be in danger. I'll have to protect them somehow."

"Oh," Larry said, looking down sadly.

"Where are you going to go?" Burt asked.

Ben shrugged. "No idea. Probably travel around for awhile, see if they ever give up," he smiled weakly. "I know my daughter's always wanted to go the Disney World."

"Are you going to leave right away?" Larry asked.

Ben nodded. "I don't want to be away from my family any longer than I have to be."

Burt nodded, understanding. "Is there anything you need before you leave?" he offered.

"Like a vehicle?" Tyler added dryly.

Ben laughed, "Yeah, I'll probably need one of those, 'least 'til I get home."

Burt thought for a moment. "Tyler, have you been able to get that car Jack left behind running?"

"No, not yet," Tyler replied. "I still need a few parts for the engine but I can't afford them."

"Oh, I can help with that," Ben said quickly. "Being a mad scientist * _does_ * have its good points."

"I'll give you guys a hand," Burt offered.

Tyler nodded and they headed off towards the garage. Jodi sighed and turned to the others.

"You know, even though he was workin' for those creeps and all, I'm gonna miss him."

"Yeah," Larry said, "He saved Burt an Tyler- all of us. He's gunna be like... another Cletus; hiding from those people for doing the right thing."

"At least he'll have his family with him," Jodi commented. "Although it might be more of a curse than a blessing..."

"How?" Larry asked.

"Because he'll not only have to look out for himself but also them," Jodi explained. "Not to mention how they'll feel having to be uprooted from their home and run all the time."

Larry frowned slightly as they began walking back towards the store. "Maybe they will give up looking for him, and could change his name and stuff," he said, though sounding doubtful.

"Maybe. But it probably won't be for a good long while. Remember Cletus has spent 30 years in that other valley and they're probably still looking for him."

Larry suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Oh, geeeeeeez. Those people who kidnapped Burt. They had been heading for Cletus' valley. We haven't thought much of it..." his eyes grew wide, "We haven't seen him since. They could have gotten him!"

"What?" Jodi stared at him in shock for a moment before rushing back outside towards her truck.

Larry hurried after her. "Where are you going?"

"To see if Cletus is still there, what else?" Jodi snapped. "Come on!"

"There is a bright side to this," Larry said to her as he got in the passenger side.

"What?" Jodi asked as she raced down the road. She wasn't anywhere near as good as Tyler, but when you lived with an ex-NASCAR racer you picked up a few things.

"We get to go on our first adventure together," he said, giving her a slightly goofy smile.

Jodi just stared at him out of the corner of her eye. "You are so strange, Larry," she said, shaking her head although she couldn't help the small smile that escaped.

"It's one of the things you love about me," the sci-fi fan teased.

"Whatever," Jodi rolled her eyes.

* * *

It took them about 30 minutes to get to Cletus' little house under the hill. Jodi pulled up in front and jumped out, looking around anxiously.

"Cletus!"

Larry jumped out of the truck. He ran up to the worn shack, knocking loudly on the door. When there was no answer, he pushed it open.

The place was in shambles, as if there had been a struggle of some kind followed by a search. Clothes, newspapers, some of Nancy's figurines she had given Cletus; it was strewn on the ground like a tornado had passed through.

Larry bit his bottom lip, looking at Jodi. "This is bad."

Jodi stared at the room before turning away and pulling out her radio.  _ **"...Burt? Tyler?...Y-you there?"**_

 _ **"You got me Jodi, what's the problem? Over,"**_  Burt's voice came though the walkie-talkie.

_**"You know how the kidnappers where headed towards Cletus' valley when they took you?"** _

_**"Yes..."**_ Burt said apprehensively.

_**"We'll...Larry and I are at his house...w-we think they might've taken him."** _

_**"What?"**_  Burt growled. There was a pause.  _ **"You two get back to town,"**_  he ordered.

Jodi nodded and headed towards the truck. "Come on Larry."

Larry got back in the truck and Jodi started back towards town.

* * *

The others were standing on the porch of the store when they returned, minus Ben and Tyler who had left to get the car parts.

As soon as they arrived, the fanatic was quick to jump out of the truck. "Burt! It was bad- you could tell they tore the place apart."

"Looked like they might have been searching for something too," Jodi added, joining them on the porch.

Burt shook his head, looking sad and almost a bit guilty. "There isn't anything we can do now."

"You think they'll kill him?" Jodi asked fearfully.

"I think if they've been looking for him this long, they have a reason they need him," Burt said.

Jodi looked off towards the horizon at the end of the valley with a sad sigh. "Well, for his sake, I hope your right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that. Next story is sooooo much shorter, and then we get back to "normal" stories (if you can call them that).
> 
> And I'm gonna copy what I had here on ff, 'cause it still makes me laugh:
> 
> Yeah, so I got to this, and was like, "I love how Cletus really isn't in this entire story and then BOOM! He disappears! And everyone's like, "OMCHEESE, HE'S NOT IN HIS LITTLE HOUSE UNDER THE HILL, THE SCIENTSITS THE SCIENTISTS TOOK HIM!"" (yes, I really did stumble on the word "scientists".)
> 
> And mum just suddenly had a revelation: "HE'S A BAGGINS! HE LIVES UNDER THE HILL! HE'S A BAGGINS!" andohmygodIcannotstoplaughingnow.
> 
> (my mother is a HUGE middle earthling)


End file.
